Numerical Modeling of Breaking Waves and Cross-Shore Currents on Barred Beaches
by Mustafa Kemal Cambazoglu, (corresponding author), (Research Scientist, Dept. of Marine Science, Univ. of Southern Mississippi, 1020 Balch Blvd., Stennis Space Center, MS 39529; formerly, Graduate Research Assistant, Georgia Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 210 Technology Circle, Savannah, GA 31407. E-mail: Mustafa.Cambazoglu@usm.edu) and Kevin A. Haas, A.M.ASCE, (Associate Professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 210 Technology Circle, Savannah, GA 31407. E-mail: khaas@gatech.edu)
Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering, Vol. 137, No. 6, November/December 2011, pp. 310-323, (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000096)
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| Document type: |
Journal Paper |
| Abstract: |
A process-based numerical model has been used to study nearshore hydrodynamics on barred beaches. A laboratory experiment with an offshore bar migration case followed by an onshore bar migration is simulated. A new mechanism is incorporated in the model accounting for the breaking-wave persistence improving model performance for wave properties, particularly in the bar-trough region. A cross-shore variation of the breaking-wave parameter is introduced to the dissipation model. The effects of the surface shape parameter and a roller lag on radiation stresses and mean water-level predictions are investigated and found to improve the mean water-level predictions. The cross-shore variation of the momentum balance is presented to illustrate the variation of forcing for the undertow current. The persistence length and the roller lag mechanisms are shown to be important for predictions of the undertow currents on barred beaches and the current predictions are improved once both methods are used. |
| Author Keywords: | 
| Numerical modeling |
| Surf zone |
| Breaking waves |
| Undertow current |
| Barred beaches |
| Nearshore sandbar |
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