scholarly journals APPLICATION OF A SEDIMENT TRANSPORT MODEL

1976 ◽  
Vol 1 (15) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.A. Fleming ◽  
J.N. Hunt

A mathematical model for sediment transport under waves has been developed from concepts that have been used successfully for unidirectional flow. This model has been combined interactively with numerical models of wave refraction, wave diffraction, longshore currents and circulation currents in order to predict local topographical changes in the vicinity of a cooling water intake basin for a nuclear power station. The sediment model is calibrated using field data of sediment concentration profiles. Verification and adjustments may be made by analysing deep water wave statistics corresponding to periodic beach and hydrographic surveys. The model can be used to investigate the effects of any wave climate and consequently different layouts of coastal structures can be examined very rapidly. For the particular problem considered it was necessary to optimise the configuration of the breakwaters forming a cooling water intake basin in order to minimise the sediment concentration at the intake, estimate maintenance dredging quantities and investigate extreme events.

1978 ◽  
Vol 1 (16) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
R. Bettess ◽  
C.A. Fleming ◽  
J.C. Heinrich ◽  
O.C. Zienkiewicz ◽  
D.I. Austin

We consider a straight coastline exposed to large regular waves, of typical wave length, 100 m amplitude 1.6 m, and period 12 sec. The radiation stress gradients in the extensive (up to 2 km wide) surf zone cause set up and long-shore currents. Despite these currents, the beach is known to be fairly stable. If now a cooling water intake basin is introduced on the coast, it is required to determine first whether the wave induced currents in the vicinity of the basin will affect the circulation of cooling water and second, whether sediment transport will occur, leading to a dredging requirement for the basin. An extensive programme of physical model testing and numerical studies is being undertaken, in order to answer the above questions, and this paper will survey the progress made to date. At the 15th Coastal Engineering Conference a paper on the application of a mathematical model to the prediction of dredging properties inside a cooling water intake basin was 9 presented by Fleming and Hunt, which described the first stage of this work . - In that paper a sediment transport model was combined interactively with numerical models of wave refraction, wave diffraction, long shore currents and circulation currents. The last of these numerical models was used to evaluate the current patterns due to the interruption of the continuity of the longshore currents, together with the cooling water flows in the vicinity of the basin. In this paper we describe the development of more sophisticated numerical models for the first three stages of the process. An understanding of the process of longshore current and set up creation, depends on the concept of radiation stress, introduced by Longuet-Higgins and Stewart,12'13' ' in a series of papers. A number of workers have since used the radiation stress to determine coastline phenomena, and we now describe a few of the relevant papers, without any attempt at a comprehensive survey. Bowen 5'6 considered a straight coastline with parallel contours, and determined near shore circulation patterns, using a stream function formulation of the shallow water equations, for normally incident waves, with a sinusoidal coastwise variation in wave amplitude. He used a finite difference method to solve for the stream function. Longuet-Higgins10'11 criticized Bowen's use of a constant mixing length (horizontal) viscosity, and introduced a viscosity which varied directly with the distance from the shore, in his one dimensional analytical model for obliquely incident waves. He was able to obtain analytically longshore velocity profiles, which he plotted for a range of viscosities.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 515-560
Author(s):  
A. D. Ashton ◽  
J. Nienhuis ◽  
K. Ells

Abstract. We investigate the controls upon the shape of freely extending spits using a one-contour-line model of shoreline evolution. In contrast to existing frameworks that suggest that spits are oriented in the direction of alongshore sediment transport and that wave refraction around the spit end is the primary cause of recurving, our results suggest that spit shoreline shapes are perhaps best understood as graded features arising from a complex interplay between distinct morphodynamic elements: the headland updrift of the spit, the erosive "neck" (which may be overwashing), and the depositional "hook." Between the neck and the hook lies a downdrift-migrating "fulcrum point" whose trajectory is set by the angle of maximum alongshore sediment transport. Model results demonstrate that wave climate characteristics affect spit growth; however, we find that the rate of headland retreat exerts a dominant control on spit shape, orientation, and progradation rate. Interestingly, as a spit forms off of a headland, the rate of sediment input to the spit itself emerges through feedbacks with the downdrift spit end, and in many cases faster spit progradation may coincide with reduced sediment input to the spit itself. Furthermore, as the depositional hook rests entirely beyond the maximum in alongshore sediment transport, this shoreline reach is susceptible to high-angle wave instability throughout and, as a result, spit depositional signals may be highly autogenic.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. D. Ashton ◽  
J. Nienhuis ◽  
K. Ells

Abstract. We investigate the controls upon the shape of freely extending spits using a one-contour-line model of shoreline evolution. In contrast to existing frameworks that suggest that spits are oriented in the direction of alongshore sediment transport and that wave refraction around the spit end is the primary cause of recurving, our results suggest that spit shoreline shapes are perhaps best understood as graded features arising from a complex interplay between distinct morphodynamic elements: the headland updrift of the spit, the erosive "neck" (which may be overwashing), and the depositional "hook". Between the neck and the hook lies a downdrift-migrating "fulcrum point" which tends towards a steady-state trajectory set by the angle of maximum alongshore sediment transport. Model results demonstrate that wave climate characteristics affect spit growth; however, we find that the rate of headland retreat exerts a dominant control on spit shape, orientation, and progradation rate. Interestingly, as a spit forms off of a headland, the rate of sediment input to the spit itself emerges through feedbacks with the downdrift spit end, and in many cases faster spit progradation may coincide with reduced sediment input to the spit itself. Furthermore, as the depositional hook rests entirely beyond the maximum in alongshore sediment transport, this shoreline reach is susceptible to high-angle wave instability throughout and, as a result, spit depositional signals may be highly autogenic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1258
Author(s):  
Viet Thanh Nguyen ◽  
Minh Tuan Vu ◽  
Chi Zhang

Two-dimensional models of large spatial domain including Cua Lo and Cua Hoi estuaries in Nghe An province, Vietnam, were established, calibrated, and verified with the observed data of tidal level, wave height, wave period, wave direction, and suspended sediment concentration. The model was then applied to investigate the hydrodynamics, cohesive sediment transport, and the morphodynamics feedbacks between two estuaries. Results reveal opposite patterns of nearshore currents affected by monsoons, which flow from the north to the south during the northeast (NE) monsoon and from the south to the north during the southeast (SE) monsoon. The spectral wave model results indicate that wave climate is the main control of the sediment transport in the study area. In the NE monsoon, sediment from Cua Lo port transported to the south generates the sand bar in the northern bank of the Cua Hoi estuary, while sediment from Cua Hoi cannot be carried to the Cua Lo estuary due to the presence of Hon Ngu Island and Lan Chau headland. As a result, the longshore sediment transport from the Cua Hoi estuary to the Cua Lo estuary is reduced and interrupted. The growth and degradation of the sand bars at the Cua Hoi estuary have a great influence on the stability of the navigation channel to Ben Thuy port as well as flood drainage of Lam River.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaveh Purkiani ◽  
Benjamin Gillard ◽  
André Paul ◽  
Matthias Haeckel ◽  
Sabine Haalboom ◽  
...  

Predictability of the dispersion of sediment plumes induced by potential deep-sea mining activities is still very limited due to operational limitations on in-situ observations required for a thorough validation and calibration of numerical models. Here we report on a plume dispersion experiment carried out in the German license area for the exploration of polymetallic nodules in the northeastern tropical Pacific Ocean in 4,200 m water depth. The dispersion of a sediment plume induced by a small-scale dredge experiment in April 2019 was investigated numerically by employing a sediment transport module coupled to a high-resolution hydrodynamic regional ocean model. Various aspects including sediment characteristics and ocean hydrodynamics were examined to obtain the best statistical agreement between sensor-based observations and model results. Results show that the model is capable of reproducing suspended sediment concentration and redeposition patterns observed during the dredge experiment. Due to a strong southward current during the dredging, the model predicts no sediment deposition and plume dispersion north of the dredging tracks. The sediment redeposition thickness reaches up to 9 mm directly next to the dredging tracks and 0.07 mm in about 320 m away from the dredging center. The model results suggest that seabed topography and variable sediment release heights above the seafloor cause significant changes especially for the low sedimentation pattern in the far-field area. Near-bottom mixing is expected to strongly influence vertical transport of suspended sediment.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julio Garcia-Maribona ◽  
Javier L. Lara ◽  
Maria Maza ◽  
Iñigo J. Losada

<p>The evolution of the cross-shore beach profile is tightly related to the evolution of the coastline in both small and large time scales. Bathymetry changes in extreme maritime events can also have important effects on coastal infrastructures such as geotechnical failures of foundations or the modification of the incident wave conditions towards a more unfavourable situation.</p><p>The available strategies to study the evolution of beach profiles can be classified in analytical, physical and numerical modelling. Analytical solutions are fast, but too simplistic for many applications. Physical modelling provides trustworthy results and can be applied to a wide variety of configurations, however, they are costly and time-consuming compared to analytical strategies. Finally,  numerical approaches offer different balances between cost and precision depending on the particular model.</p><p>Some numerical models provide greater precision in the beach profile evolution, but incurring in a prohibitive computational cost for many applications. In contrast, the less expensive ones assume simplifications which do not allow to correctly reproduce significant phenomena of the near-shore hydrodynamics such as wave breaking or undertow currents, neither to predict important features of the beach profile like breaker bars.</p><p>In this work, a new numerical model is developed to reproduce the main features of the beach profile and hydrodynamics while maintaining an affordable computational cost. In addition, it is intended to reduce to the minimum the number of coefficients that the user has to provide to make the model more predictive.</p><p>The model consists of two main modules. Firstly, the already existing 2D RANS numerical model IH2VOF is used to compute the hydrodynamics. Secondly, the sediment transport model modifies the bathymetry according to the obtained hydrodynamics. The new bathymetry is then considered in the hydrodynamic model to account for it in the next time step.</p><p>The sediment transport module considers bedload and suspended transports separately. The former is obtained with empirical formulae. In the later,the distribution of sediment concentration in the domain is obtained by solving an advective-diffusive transport equation. Then, the sedimentation and erosion rates are obtained along the seabed.<br>Once these contributions are calculated, a sediment balance is performed in every seabed segment to determine the variation in its level.</p><p>With the previously described strategy, the resulting model is able to predict not only the seabed changes due to different wave conditions, but also the influence of this new bathymetry in the hydrodynamics, capturing features such as the generation of a breaker bar, displacement of the breaking point or variation of the run-up over the beach profile. To validate the model, the numerical results are compared to experimental data.</p><p>An important novelty of the present model is the computational effort required to perform the simulations, which is significantly smaller than the one associated to existing models able to reproduce the same phenomena.</p>


2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 536-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing-Chao Guo ◽  
Yee-Chung Jin

Various coefficients in sediment transport models must be accounted for. Models based on depth-averaged equations and sediment carrying capacity formula contain some coefficients: α, k, and m. At the present, no widely acceptable method has been developed for determining the values of these coefficients. The focus of this paper is in the development of semi-theoretical formulas for estimating these coefficients such that, in practical applications, the uncertainty involved in selecting coefficients is minimized. Model verification shows that the coefficients obtained from the proposed formulas give a good simulation of the channel bed deformation. In addition, Rouse's equation for sediment concentration distribution will become solvable because the reference concentration can be determined from the derived expression for α. The simulated concentration profiles obtained by solving the Rouse's equation and α formula agree reasonably well with the measured data.Key words: depth-averaged model, sediment transport, sediment-carrying capacity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaocheng Fu ◽  
Fenglei Du ◽  
Xiang Pu ◽  
Xuan Wang ◽  
Fengze Han

Abstract The safety of cooling water intake in nuclear power plants (NPPs) has gradually become an important factor affecting the safety of NPPs. Marine flora and fauna outbreaks are one of the main types affecting the safety of cooling water intake in NPPs, and the driving mechanism is more complicated and difficult to predict. This paper mainly analyzes the main types and typical cases of marine organisms that cause cooling water intake blockage in NPPs, and analyzes the key factors such as hydrodynamic conditions, timing of organism's outbreak, characteristics of species, and design of the screen systems. The results show that strong hydrodynamic conditions or strong tides caused by special meteorological conditions are important factors. Considering the time of organism's outbreak, spring and summer (May–August, may change slightly according to different latitude) is key period because of the reproduction and growth of most marine organisms, according to the growth law of marine organisms. In terms of biological characteristics, it is sensible to focus on those species with fast growth, strong reproductive capacity, short life cycle, weak swimming ability, and cluster distribution. As to the design of screen systems, the blockage mainly occurs in revolving filter screens. The grid spacing of normal mechanical grille is too large to block the small marine organisms. It is necessary to add trash interception nets according to the type and size of the marine species. Finally, a case is used to confirm the factors needed to pay more attention.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 437-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Klassen ◽  
G. Hillebrand ◽  
N. R. B. Olsen ◽  
S. Vollmer ◽  
B. Lehmann ◽  
...  

Abstract. The prediction of cohesive sediment transport requires numerical models which include the dominant physico-chemical processes of fine sediments. Mainly in terms of simulating small scale processes, flocculation of fine particles plays an important role since aggregation processes affect the transport and settling of fine-grained particles. Flocculation algorithms used in numerical models are based on and calibrated using experimental data. A good agreement between the results of the simulation and the measurements is a prerequisite for further applications of the transport functions. In this work, the sediment transport model (SSIIM) was extended by implementing a physics-based aggregation process model based on McAnally (1999). SSIIM solves the Navier-Stokes-Equations in a three-dimensional, non-orthogonal grid using the k-ε turbulence model. The program calculates the suspended load with the convection-diffusion equation for the sediment concentration. Experimental data from studies in annular flumes (Hillebrand, 2008; Klassen, 2009) is used to test the flocculation algorithm. Annular flumes are commonly used as a test rig for laboratory studies on cohesive sediments since the flocculation processes are not interfered with by pumps etc. We use the experiments to model measured floc sizes, affected by aggregation processes, as well as the sediment concentration of the experiment. Within the simulation of the settling behavior, we use different formulas for calculating the settling velocity (Stokes, 1850 vs. Winterwerp, 1998) and include the fractal dimension to take into account the structure of flocs. The aim of the numerical calculations is to evaluate the flocculation algorithm by comparison with the experimental data. The results from these studies have shown, that the flocculation process and the settling behaviour are very sensitive to variations in the fractal dimension. We get the best agreement with measured data by adopting a characteristic fractal dimension nfc to 1.4. Insufficient results were obtained when neglecting flocculation processes and using Stokes settling velocity equation, as it is often done in numerical models which do not include a flocculation algorithm. These numerical studies will be used for further applications of the transport functions to the SSIIM model of reservoirs of the Upper Rhine River, Germany.


2008 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 205-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abílio C.S.P. Bittencourt ◽  
Zelinda M.A.N. Leão ◽  
Ruy K.P. Kikuchi ◽  
José M.L. Dominguez

This paper shows that the location of the shoreface bank reefs along the northeastern and eastern coasts of Brazil, in a first order approximation, seem to be controlled by the deficit of sediment in the coastal system. The sediment transport pattern defined by a numerical modeling of wave refraction diagrams, representing circa 2000 km of the northeastern and eastern coasts of Brazil, permitted the regional-scale reproduction of several drift cells of net longshore sediment transport. Those drift cells can reasonably explain the coastal sections that present sediment surplus or sediment deficit, which correspond, respectively, to regions where there is deposition and erosion or little/no deposition of sand. The sediment deficit allows the exposure and maintenance of rocky substrates to be free of sediment, a favorable condition for the fixation and development of coral larvae.


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