Coastal Dynamics 2

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Coastal Dynamics 2
Coastal Dynamics II (Technische Universiteit Delft)
Distributing prohibited | Downloaded by mazen alqadi (mazen.a.alqadi@gmail.com)

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Coastal dynamics 2
Wang: Tidal inlets and basins.
 Aggregated long term morphological modelling
 Tidal inlets & basins in NL
 Tidal asymmetry sediment transport morphology
 Modelling concepts
 Case studies
Small single basin
Small in comparison to tidal wavelength (100’s km)

Pumping mode can be applied
Intertidal flats; dry during ebb, wet during flood
Channel part; always flooded
Related to basin size
Smaller basin has more intertidal flats.
If you know basin area and tidal range; flats, channel

and ebb tidal delta outside of basin, can be
calculated.
Hfe = height of sand (not sand and water) of tidal flat  Volume flats  tidal prism  etc.
Most is derived from field data; empirical relations.
Two basin system

Tidal watershed (internal boundary) is moving in Waddenzee due to afsluitdijk.
Smaller part is often less deep!
Tidal range the same for two basin openings Tidal range different for two basin openings
Turn right graph around  sediment demand after closure of Ijsselmeer  many m2

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Models
Bed level change is small per tidal cycle.
Process based is simplification.
For sediment concentration, you solve an advection-diffusion

equation.
--> Exchange between watercolumn and bed level  bed

level change.
Aggregation can be seen in time (longer than tidal cycle) or

space, both with a source and sink term.
ASMITA (semi empirical):
Single element model:
Equilibrium for channel volume  equilibrium concentration (measure of flow velocity)  if too big,
flow velocity goes down, more sedimentation  sediment exchange between water & bottom 
mass-balance sediment in water & transport  are the same because of tidal cycle
 Determine morphological time scale.
 Better than empirical model because it can be used for more situations
Nodal tide variation: variation of the tide itself per 18.6 years  changes in volume, but hard to
notice. Phase lag in systems are the same
Sea level rise – land subsidence

Say, dynamic equilibrium = 0  solve for volume, which is different than the one for empirical
relation.
Two element model

Channel AND flat part  formulas for same parameters for the channel and flat  more transport
components (principle of ASMITA). Coupled equations, also linearize as in the single element model.
(eigenvalues etc etc). Eigenvalues say something about disturbance and what morphological
timescale is related (same for the channel and flat).
Small timescale : one of the elements has too much sediment compared to equilibrium, other too
little (exchange internally, back to equilibrium)
Large timescale: both elements are short of sediment
General situation for asmita:

System schematized into N elements, equations per element, you can define morphological
equilibrium per element. Mass balance equation is sum, forms a series of equations for sediment
concentration, which determines morphological change.
N time scales  all are system timescales.
ESTMORF, before ASMITA, less used. For systems like

westerschelde:
Can be useful for a network model. Each cross section

is divided into 3 segments, which are all connected with
each other in a network: Big ASMITA model. Also uses
pumping mode.
For a river case (unidirectional quasi steady flow) the

model behaves the same as the process based dynamic
model (just faster).

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Not everywhere the same reaction on sea level rise in this

model. Locally, cross sectional area is increasing and tidal
prism behind this cross section increases. When you have a
relatively narrow area, and behind it a large (storage area)
than the increase in tidal prism is winning from the cross
sectional area change  erosion
Tidal volume changes (low tide doesn’t change due to SLR,
high tide does)
Parameter setting of semi-empirical long term morphological model

It’s the parameters determining the morphological timescale that are
important!
Can be solved for semi empirical and process based model. Then
compare for the relations between the two models. 

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Dutch coast
If red part keeps going up with the SLR, there will be no
safety issues.
Coastline should be maintained at the position of 1990, at
least not landward of that position. The coastal foundation
needs to keep pace with SLR. Under discussion; tidal basins
need to be maintained as well.  dynamic preservation;
via sand nourishment.
120 mil. Kub per jaar!
Major interferences; afsluitdijk en lauwerszee, dammen in

schelde delta.
Closure of zuiderzee
Afsluitdijk just a bit further sea ward, not at the q=0 line, so that the tidal prism is more or less the
same.
 Still large scale sedimentation in the remaining tidal basins
 Serious erosion of the adjacent coasts
 Shift of tidal watershed
 (local problems with water quality and bottom pollution in Ijsselmeer)
Closure of lauwerszee
Tidal range changed, significant change in tidal flow velocity, change in tidal asymmetry (flood
dominant), import of sediment.
Changes in channels, causes erosion of tidal flats. (not landsubsidence, house would have gone lower
as well).
Tidal prism is not changing much; equivalent volume of ebb tidal

delta should remain the same.
Here, tidal prism changed a lot, ebb tidal delta needs to get
smaller and basin askes sediment; can be delivered by ebb tidal
delta.
Closure of the zuiderzee; ebb tidal delta has no sediment left 
erosion of adjacent coasts.

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After closure, erosion of shoals, (ebb tidal delta loses its function). Deeper channels get shallower. 
sink or source term. (seaward is source, landward is sink)
Eastern Scheldt; problem is shortage of sediment  plaat has a lot erosion  environmental
problem.
Position of the closure determines if the mouth becomes sink or source. Type of closure determines
the type of environmental problems.
Land subsidence can be problem; if something goes wrong, mining is stopped. The critical rate of SLR
should not be overpassed, mining can influence the total SLR!
Now in discussion; should tidal delta be nourished as well? (to avoid erosion of adjacent coasts).
In westerschelde; careful not to make multichannel system into single channel system.
Watersheds
Tidal watershed not in the middle but more eastward; tidal propagation in Waddenzee is west-east,
thus reaches first basin first, latter last (=classical explanation). Tidal propagation can be calculated
behind an island: amplitude and location of max and min flow velocity can be calculated.
Conclusions:
 If island is very small or basin is too deep: no watershed

 The variation of the tidal range turns out to be most important for the location of the
watershed
 Phase difference has a small difference, but only if the amplitudes at the inlets are not the
same.
Linear cases, Delft3D confirms it. Observations in NL confirms it. But Danish system not.
Non linear cases; friction term is important; phase lag becomes more important than the tidal range
difference.

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Tidal asymmetry and morphology

Residual transport > residual flow.
In addition to M2, the residual flow (M0) and the overtides M4 and
M6 are important. Also, the phase leg between the overtides and
the M2 are important.
Sediment transport can adjust relatively quickly to flow changes;
fine sediment not  phase lag/slack water is more important. U is
symmetric, but slack waters differ. (CD 1 doorlezen)
Short and closed basin

Short, length basin << length tide. Pumping mode: discharge is easily determined by elevation and
basin area. F = horizontal area, A = cross sectional area.
When you have tidal constituents: higher frequency harmonics are more important in horizontal tide
than vertical tide. (amplitude not affected a lot, discharge is).
`1 tidal period; basin filled and emptied once. M4, period is half than M2  basin is twice filled and
emptied. M6 is 3 times filled and emptied for the same reason.
Higher harmonics
Non linear terms in momentum equation create them. Also, combination between the components
create even more higher orders. Shallow water equation: u(x,t) = cosine fuction  higher harmonics
due to non linear terms in the equation.
Also, propagating velocity of high waves > propagating velocity of low waves (in shallow water).
 High wave catches up with lower wave.

 Asymmetry of tide. (=m4+m2)
 Friction gives additional to low tide  “feels bottom more”
Theory of Dronkers
weakly non linear approach.
Linear solution, applies it to high and low water

situation. (similar as said above). Requires symmetric
tide at the mouth.
Aim of dronkers: formulate a relation between tidal

propagation and basin geometry which yield zero
asymmetery induced transport.
Uses indicator for tidal asymmetry: difference

between flood period and ebb period. (longer flood =
ebb dominant due to higher velocities during ebb).
Hk = As/bk = bs/bk * H. Where bk is width of entire basin. Bs =

channel area.
During CD1: bk = bs  there are no intertidal flats 

therefore a 1D long wave equation for a small tide.
Momentum equation; use H not Hk, flow velocity only in H.

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There is an morphological equilibrium if there is no difference

in ebb and flood duration.
Most of the dots above the line; flood dominance (H hw > H

hw eq). Also, asymmetry could be caused by shallow North
sea.
Friedrichs & Aubrey
Left plot
With decreasing depth, M4/M2 gets bigger: waves behave more linear in shallow water, thus non
linear terms have less influence (and thus M4 too since its generated by the non linear terms.
If storage volume gets bigger, there is a larger depth; non linear terms gain importance.
Right plot (phase difference)

At 180 degrees; just on the line (2M2 – M4) between ebb and flood dominance. If smaller, they are
more in phase; Hhw gets higher  flood dominance. Vise versa; ebb dominance.
Comparison two theories  almost same result.
Wang hypothesis
Morphology of tidal basin adjust such that tidal propagation velocity is independent of water level
(HW velocity = LW velocity) exponential relationship of A and b
Fits rather well but not in deep water; doesn’t matter because intertidal area counts. Note, only 6
data points, so not really reliable. Does fit data points better than Dronkers relation.

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Theory of Dronkers for fine sediment (slack waters)

Can be calculated with du/dt. If it’s small, we have a large slack water period.
Red cross because dA/dt = 0 (see picture).
If you have a big basin, a lot of water: big b and H. A lot of

momentum change if you change direction which takes long;
if Hk+ is big, it indicates that du/dt hwk is small.
Morphological modelling
 Morphological equilibrium
Rivers; parameters can be all resolved (bed slope for
given width and discharge etc)
Tidal estuary; spatial differences between discharges.

Further downstream: salt intrusion, bifurcations, other
tidal components, wash load becomes bed load etcetcetc.
 Tidal flats
Flood plains don’t change the discharge, tidal
shoals do.
 Morphological tide
Period of forcing << period of change in morphology
No general relation for that!
 Residual transport

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Case study: Hedwigepolder

Parameters of influence:
 Storage volume Vs
 Change in tidal prism:
o Downstream: range and surface area change. You create more storage, but change in
range is unknown. (could go down because larger area available)
o Upstream: buffer is created for water; also decrease in tidal range
 Sediment transport: erosion or accretion, depends on flood or ebb dominant (depends on
tidal prism and morphology)
 Size of area: very small with respect to entire basin; effects on parameters of the entire
estuary could be very small (locally very big of course)
Modelling could solve: Delft3D requires a lot of data and work. Output would be bedlevel change
(disadvantage of full morphodynamic loop takes really long). Asmita could give an indicaton.

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Walstra
Coastal modelling
Asmita = down-scaling. Upscaling = Delft3D etc.

Every model has its advantages and disadvantages. At first, simple model and later advanced model.
Advanced model requires less input conditions however.
Coastline models: really simple models. Simulates response to
primarily wave forcing. S-phi curves and sediment transports.
Coast = single line. Can give a good indication of processes.
Applications:
 Large scale sediment budget
 Initial assessment of impact of structures on coasts
 Long shore sediment (re)distribution in small bays
 Beach designs
Most widely applied model in CE community
UNIBEST assumes entire coastline is moving up and down 
Volume can be estimated by a height, cross shore change and
longshore distance.
Profile change + alongshore transport gradients  continuity

equation.
Sediment transport can be estimated by original transport

and coastline gradient.

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Then apply a trick: S-phi curve. Sediment transport as a

function of coastline orientation. Only need 3 parameters; c1,
c2 and θe.
Also the amplitude is important! Magnitude of transport.
Due to changing orientation, position in the S-phi curve
changes with time.
Asses locations, calculate s-phi curves and apply them at the
locations.
Can be applied to curved coasts; curvilinear! Cannot be done
with a partition model. Can thus look at multiple curved
bases, add discharges, sediment sources and sinks etc.
Wave modelling is important for getting your coast model.

Offshore waveclimate of unibest into delft3d-wave  input
into unibest with input locations for S-phi curves  local wave
climates.
You can impose structures, but important limitations!
Shadow zones that affect the coasts as well. Groynes; assumes that all transport before a groyne is
just blocked. In reality, it flows around  model groynes shorter to simulate that effect.
Reventment; no sediment available at all in the model  unrealistic transport gradients. Offshore
breakwater: unibest only draws the breakwater; no effect if locally S-phi curves are not
modified/overruled by the the modeler!!

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exercise:
Input reduction
 Waves
 Tides
 Combination
 Boundary conditions
In delft3D: 162 wave conditions, 1 hour run-time per wave conditions, 162 hours runtime/year. For a
regular project, this has to be around 10-12 hours  reduction of climate to 10-12 representative
conditions. They are used because:
 Typically long time scales for predictions  big computational effort
 Represent natural variability with minimum number of conditions
 Forcing conditions are not known a priori
 Based on measured data  effects such as climate change / damming etc may have to be
added.

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Gross-net transports:
Gross is a magnitude larger! Big gross up and down during katrina; large impact! However, net
transport was really small. Sand engine: gross transport deposits on both sides!
At exercise; 1 wave climate, use 3 locations. Translate wave conditions into sediment transport
relation with cerc formula:
 Higher wave condtions become

relatively more important.  just looking at wave heights only is not a good idea; grouped
class, more inversed.
Other transport formulations ; CERC also with direction, Van rijn, bijker. (in unibest). Relative weight
differs a lot per formulation.
5 reduction methods:
 10 conditons with largest contributions (upscaling effect, it has to represent Stot, difference
with Stot will be the upscaling factor!)
o Scaled duration 15%  way lower = good
 Manual grouping of classes, with varying bin sizes
o More important ones, have smaller bins. Also, make sure you have distinction in
positive and negative direction compared to the coast.
o Find total transport in bin, look for 1 condition in that block that represents that the
best “centre of gravity method” Gives you upscaled weights PER BLOCK
o Scaled duration is 31%, takes a lot longer
 Grouping with equal contribution
o Choose blocks/bins such that weights are equally distributed
o Higher number of bins at more important wave directions, the rest is same as
manual method.  duration is 23%, thus better than manual.

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3rd method is best in representing the S-phi curve!
Note: coupling of wave characteristics to other parameters (such as surge)
Then you also have 2 more reduction methods based on selection of condition(s) which have
maximum correlation or minimum error/maximum skill.
4) Correlation method
5) OPTI method (iteratively get rid of unimportant conditions)

Can see the error build up!  finding out how many conditions you need.

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No interaction of wave conditions! No control of selection!
Tidal schematisations
Based on the representation of:
1. Tide induced transports through inlet
2. Wind/wave/tide induced transports at relevant locations
3. Correlation of sedimentation-erosion patters
The purpose is to represent a reference period with one or two tides (representative or
morphological tide)
Reference periods are:
 Spring neap tidal cycle
 Year (to capture seasonal river discharges)
1) Transport through inlet

a. Analyse variation over a year
b. Spring-neap cycle
c. Single representative tide
d. Q = Binlethu = A *(dηinside/dt)  u = (A/Bh)* dη/dt
i. More components in u, asymmetry and overtides.
ii. Tide that is 1.1 times larger than the average tide = representative tide
2) Relevant locations, Latteux
a. Determine spring-neap averaged reference transports Si at locations i
b. Running average over 1 or 2 individual tides per location
c. Take ratio of tide averaged and residual transports averaged over all locations
d. Error is this times the running average – reference transports
3) Correlation method
a. Based on initial sedimentation/erosion runs
b. Basis is average sed/ero over spring neap cycle
c. Compare with sed/ero per 2 consecutive tides (in case of daily inequality)
d. Select one with highest correlation
e. Weight factor

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Combined wave and tide schematization

Usually impossible to formally include both  there is no standard recipe available
 Reduce wave climate to one condition using the CERC method (e.g. on stirring)
 Apply this wave condition in the tidal schematization
 Apply representative tide in the wave schematisation
therefore; all wave conditions combined once

(for example) with the representative tide to
represent a full year.
Could also be done using 1 or 2 tides.
Gives an indication how much each wave

conditions has to be upscaled. Lower wave
conditions occur more frequently  have to
be upscaled more (45 times more important)
High don’t need to be upscale so much.
Matches numerical stability: low wave conditions; changes slow and therefore you can upscale them
more. Higher waves have a bigger impact, upscaling has less effect/makes it less stable.
It’s a factor on the duration!!
How often you repeat for tidal cycles;

better results (stops at one point)
If you repeat a wave cycle more and
more; sequence becomes less important
If target reacts only abrupt changes;
more difficult to reach the target. More
errors when reduction is used.

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Coastal modelling – process based Area modelling
Tide and wave interaction: current shoaling (current opposes waves, waves are pressed together)
Lot of sediment just before inlet; waves are stirring up sediment, flows transport it.  complex
system coupled!!
Loop works better than ISE sometimes; no velocity update keeps erosion and accretion at same
place, instead of moving along with the moving bulge! Gives non realistic scour at groyne as well.
Unibest has this disadvantage as well: length of groyne doesn’t matter, if it extends a little bit further
than surf zone, or a lot  same result. In reality (and delft 3d) this is off course not the case.
(Sawtooth shape erosion/accretion because it looks only at net sed. Transport)

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Upscaling techniques
1) Offline (tide average approach)
2) Online (elongated tide approach)
3) Parallel-Offline (RAM-approach)
4) Parallel-Online (MOR-Merge-approach)
1)
Continuity correction some times, after 20 a full loop again. Assume discharge over cell=the same.
2)
1) vs 2) after each cycle; online has good value again. 1) goes smoother. Performance of both is
similar.

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3) Ram = very powerfull method. = Fit for transport for EACH grid cell. Parallel; multiple conditions at
the same time  very computer efficient model simulation.
4) EVERYTHING IS COUPLED! After every time step, coupling takes place. You can start simulations
with different tidal phase  upscale a little bit further because velocities change less.

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Sigma layer grid: vertical grid which is % of depth. Bigger cells in the middle and smaller at the
surface/bottom  lager concentration/velocity gradients there, wave breaking, turbulence.
Triangle grid: no extra high resolution
Models don’t have a good representation on top of a bar (with wave breaking) but that has more
to do with the modelling of the waves. If you don’t include turbulence, you underpredict viscosity
and therefore du/dz must get bigger to be able to transfer the shear stress.

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For suspended sediment: deposition flux

AND erosion flux with advection and
diffusion of sedment.
2dh: use a representative depth average
concentration!!!
Model performance statistics, interpretations, free and forced behavior and PB long
term modelling

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When you get further from initial situation, BSS gets better, doesn’t mean solution is also better!!!
Figure out what makes your model good or bad; amplitude, phase, mean (gives a better indication
than bss).
Interpretation
 Inspect profiles and 3D plot of bathymetry
 Aggregate results on different levels (make bigger boxes, average time etc)
o Pretty animations don’t have to be true
o Focus on relevant info and how valuable it is
o Details are often irrelevant to the client
 Make relative comparisons to zero case
 Play animations to understand process
 What if games
Alternatives for pretty colour graphs:

 Average bed level changes; absolute values vs relative values
Free and forced behavior

Forced: directly linked to behavior of system
Free: behavior of system is not directly linked to forcing
Free: try to explain cycle behavior because a detailed prediction is impossible.

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Challenges: small scales can have direct validation, but large scales not because forcing is unknown.

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De schipper
Mass transport by waves
90 degrees phase difference between u and v.
Measure at mid depth: average = 0

Measure more at wave: positive; doesn’t take the
through
Zero on top of the wave (barely touches the water)
Particle blue dot, moves to red dot. Horizontal: starts with almost 0 velocity, moves forwards.
Vertical; Integrate, it moves upward  Elliptical path in shallow water.
Linear approximation: assume particle is always experiencing the velocity of its initial position.
In reality, there is a small change in the vertical: a bit bigger upwards and a little bit smaller
downward  loops of ellips are not closed but show a small forward movement!
Non linear term bigger at the surface than at the bottom. Difference in eulerian (fixed) and lagragian
(moving with particle) velocity = stokes drift (due to vertical gradient in horizontal velocities). Could
do the same for vertical velocities, but due to horizontal bed, no horizontal gradients in vertical
velocity. Eulerian fixed frame, mass transport in wavefront. Lagrangian frame, transport over depth.
However, same amount of transport (E/c)

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Return flow
Undertow because mass is transported landward but coast forms a boundary. Neglect all terms, left
with balance! 2D sense, is depth integrated: No net flow!
3D; balanced by depth gradient and vertical mixing!
Vertical mixing determines shape of the curve. Stokes flow on top, undertow below.
Sandy duck
Observations done by a pier, instrumental sled, crab pulling sled. Curvature of undertow becomes
stronger closer by shore. Also mass flux to shore increases (shallower water, more elliptical, bigger
vertical gradients in horizontal flow. Further offshore it turned out fully offshore flow, stronger at top
than at bottom. = WEIRD!  piecewise compensation of stokes drift. Best/most promising
explanation done by hasselman force: includes Coriolis term in the 3D force balance.
v
All terms are the same, except for the gradient in the cross term wv! Becomes actually non-zero, and
is the same as the piece wise stokes drift compensation. However, for the mass transfer, it implies no
mass transfer by waves (in the ocean)  therefore still under debate.

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To measure it in a lagrangian way: dye or drifter.
Stokes drift = massa transport

= beweging deeltjes (lagragian) – stroomsnelheid
(eulerian)
Wave group and long waves

In the surfzone, short waves break, therefore
other wave types become more important.
Waves group; different frequencies travel at

different speeds. Close to each other; resonance =
group pattern.
Adding them together: fast part and slow part.
Offshore, n=0.5, near shore, n=1.

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 Horizontal bed, so dh/dx is mainly constant,

even though h = d+eta. This makes dhU/dx non
linear. Eta*U = very small so can also be
neglected. Therefore, replace the h by d. Also
constant depth in space so take d out of equation
 dhU/dx = d* dU/dx
 dh/dt is time change of water level; mainly
due to eta.
 Top equation *1/dt and bottom *-d* 1/dx
 Then expression top equation into bottom
 Expression in time+expression in
space=forcing
Wave group forcing Sxx:

 Formula radiation stress = (2n-0.5)E
 Wave energy on group timescale gives a mean and
fluctuating part for E
 radiation stress is varying of wave group
timescale; mean and fluctuating part
 Generates a bound long wave surface elevation
(high at wavegroup low)
 Can estimate for each bi-chromatic wave
 This is for a horizontal bed only!!!!!!
 Very big short waves – big fluctuations – big long
waves
 In reality, a lot of the total long wave height is larger than the bound wave height  not only
the bound long waves, but also reflective and free waves!
If cg approaches gh, waveheight of bound

long waves goes up (resonance) = near
shore. With energy it can be explained that
wave energy depends on the water depth, as
does kh. Short waves cannot drive this
unlimited; breaking zone. In surfzone,
biggest waves in the group start breaking;
reduced groupiness  weaker forcing
mechanism  bound long waves transform
into free long waves propagating with the
shallow water wave celerity.

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Green’s law: free long wave height hardly changes
Big
difference between incoming long wave and
outgoing; lot of long wave energy is lost (still under debate).  could be, bottom friction, non linear
interactions or long wave breaking? Closer to shore, long waves start to behave like a bore. Incoming
long wave amplitude stops increasing when short waves start to break.
Steep beach; alpha parameter is very small; adheres to green’s law; too short for the waves to start
shoaling. Small sloping beach, almost reaches the Longuet Higgins parameter of 2.5, but never
exactly found. So it only counts for relatively “short” long waves, or mild slopes.
If fully reflective, purple line equal to blue line at the coast, and
higher than blue line off shore.
Same steps; cosine to fit the equations. Constant along

shore wavenumber, varying cross shore wavenumber.
Snel’s law. Yellow lines indicate same distances along
shore and varying cross shore.
Refraction of bound long wave depends on the alongshore
wavenumber and cross shore wave number. (and thus
also wave speed!!)
If incoming wave angle is small it will reflect a lot and
escape offshore: leaky waves

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If incoming wave angle is larger, the wave stays in nearshore:

trapped long waves
If you remove forcing; movement of system (where it

resonates)  resonant edge waves = modes surf zone would
take in case of no forcing. If forcing in this timescale  increase
in waveheight. Then trapped wave causes resonant edge wave.
Below green line: No free waves, mostly vertical = Very

low frequency motions
Areas with a lot of wave energy: onshore flow
Ares with little wave energy: offshore flow
 Rip currents
 If frequencies are close to eachother!!!
Nearshore circulation
Rip currents show less wave activity. Rip current; fast seaward going flow, narrow, starts in the
surfzone. Breaking in wave breaking area = deeper area=rip current

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Rips channels at transverse bars and linear bar

trough beaches are not fixed  morphology
changes, sometimes even day to day
(Australia). During storm, channels erased,
quite period, rip channels form again.
Structures; rip channels are ‘fixed’. (towards
groyne!). Two opposite alongshore currents,
where they meet; mega rip of 2 m/s.
Transient rips or ‘flash’ rips: spatial variations

in wave heights can drive circulation and offshore flows. 2
components, slightly differenting in frequency, from different
angles. Drives a circular patterns which moves! About 500
seconds and 250 meters long  VLF
 Difficult to measure
Average flow velocity 0.2 m/s, but fluctuations can be 1 m/s!
Surprised by a sudden ripcurrent.
Tests show that there is actually stronger streaming towards the beach than offshore. Does not
always cause a symmetric pattern!
The circulation patterns is different from the classical idea! Thus, stay afloat within the breaker zone
(side current might be in your direction!) and swim to the side outside of surfzone.
A lot of retention in surfzone!  polluted material therefore also stays in surfzone! Questions; why
does it stay and what is important mechanism?
Rip current flows:
Swash: Short wave resolving; resolve every single wave

Delft 3d / Xbeach Short wave averaged, long wave resolving; envelope, packing of wave energy
(look at wave groups)
Standard delft3d Wave averaged

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 Surface elavation with varying wave heights and groups. With Hilbert transform  get the
wavegroups
If you want to look at transported material; advected flow; use total lagrangian flow. If you want to
look at the flow compared to an instrument; eulerian velocity.
Forcing of rip currents

Waveheight before shoals larger than on top of
the shoals. Wave energy is converted to a roller
when a wave starts breaking (travels on top of
the wave) and then converted to
turbulence/heat/noise. Therefore they can be
found where the waveheight is decreasing
rapidly.
Wave forcing; roller forces by body forces and

shear stresses. Waterlevel on shoals is higher
(more waves)  vorticity.
Modelling: Difference in GLM flow and Eulerian flow due to the difference in stokes drift (absent or
not) but only very small because stokes drift is small. Devil in the details: offshore eulerian flow is
offshore, glm is onshore. VLF is okay modelled. In eulerian case drifters go outside surfzone, GLM
way less (due to stokes drift), still 25%.
GLM with VLF has more drifters exiting than GLM without VLF. VLF’s cause drifters to be able to exit.
(“flash rip current”)
Storm impact

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Storm can go through all phases. Storm surge

level doesn’t need to happen, dune erosion can
cause next regime to happen.
Important near shore processes during dune
erosion:
 Wave impact on the dune face
 Long waves
 Turbulence
 Sliding/avalanching of dune face
Infra gravity waves more important at dune
face, short waves broke before.
Strong offshore currents in front of dune face; a lot of sediment moves off shore.
Slumping, jump in the dune face:
In beginning dune erosion is very large, but over time it reaches equilibrium (if storm stays the same
or the beach became wide enough).

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Predicting storm response

Can be done by empirical models and process based models
Empirical
 Done by rijkswaterstaat
 Simplest
 Not all processes seperately; they are included in the results of the tests
 Equilibrium profile after the storm (depends on wave height, period, fall velocity)
 1:12.5 slope at the end, 1:1 at the dune, shift profile of formula until it fits
Process based
 Xbeach
 Specific parts can be modelled (low frequency motions)
 Temporal variations in storm; transgression over time
 Structures; how does a curvature affect dune erosion
Xbeach: bottom depthwavescurrentssediment transportbottom change depth … =
loop!!!!
It has a wave group approach  bound long waves and free long waves, breaking of waves, surface
rollers etc  uses that to calculate sediment concentrations.
Stirring of sediment highest at the wave groups  CD 1 recap!!!!
Flow modelling uses GLM and shallow water equations.
flow = upper one, sediment concentration = lower one 

sediment needs time to adjust to abrupt changes in flow.
Left: is solution to advection-diffusion equation, without spatial differences. Adaptation timescale

determines lagging. T = 0.05 h/ws. After this; bottom update to generate a new depth.
Xbeach; has tricks to include avalanching! Slope depends on wether the sand is wet or dry; wet slope
is flatter than dry slope; dune adapts to the slope for the wet area (where the long wave hits the
dune at the sand becomes wet).

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Model does a bad job in short waves  because it is wave group modelling! At the dune face it does
really good. Model represents reality good.
If no avalanching is taken into account; big difference with reality (dune sort of stays the same as
before the storm). This is also the case if no waves group are taken into account.
Overwash modelling
14 meters of wave during hurricanes. Strong simplification of data follows reality a bit, not perfect.
Barrier island does not build up to previous state (migrates landwards)
Again, confirmation, wave groups are important!
Including longshore variation, same hurricane: weak spot can cause the start of overwash, most infra
gravity waves just propagate over the island instead of reflecting. Good reflection of reality!
Delft 3D gives not as good representation of processes at the waterline; use Xbeach for dune erosion.
Delft 3D good for tidal motion, wind driven flows. Mostly, bigger Delft3D model, and smaller Xbeach
model for dune erosion/storm effects.
Recovery; sediment transport on beaches has longer timescale; more difficult.

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Vd Spek; Long term coastal Morphodynamics (Holocene)

Time; for geology millennia are short term. In this case, decades centuries and millennia will be used
as long term (because that’s long term for process based).
Why long term; know what you are building on, formation of dutch coast and why it looks like that,
sea level rise/climate change. (learn from the past in order to understand, know the mechanisms
involved, sustainable development and what should/is the natural development).
Layers in dunes; can give information about storms before data exists. Can also give information
what the coast looked like. However, less detailed however.
Sedimentology
Sediments; sand, mud, organic deposits, carbonate.
Transport and deposition (from mountain to coast)
Interpretation of deposits  product of processes (nice linear rippels = formed by breaking waves
during ebbing tide. Flow in through, waves breaking sideways, non linear rippels)
Geology
Description and analysis of subsurface, reconstruction of the past. However, record is incomplete, so
imagination has to be used to fill the gap. Long timescales indicate large spatial scales; less details.
Understand present day, to be able to explain the past. Almost no equations are used in geology.
Reconstructing long term coastal evolution

Tools
 Seismic survey  geometry of sediment  shoals and channels used to exist in front of the
Holland coast
 Sediment analysis  drilling can show sediment layers  could indicate channels etc
 Lithology, sediment kinds (sand mud peat etcetc) (sand of iceage, peat layer (swamp), mud
(creak), sand (tidal channel)
 Sedimentary structures (ripples have distinct layering due to migrating = tipping layers in the
core)
 Fossils: microscopic, macroscopic  living conditions
Method
 Indentification of sedimentary environments
o Own set of processes (sedimentary environment) and living conditions (fossils)
o Vertical stacking tells you history
 Age
o Relative dating (fossils)
o Absolute dating: radioactive isotopes
 Emitting radiation (decay with time, radiocarbon)
 Receiving radiation (time since last exposure to sunlight, optically stimulated
luminescence OSL, dating sediment grains
o Archeology  artefacts in deposits
 Paleo-geography (timeframe, mapping)
o Moments in the past; coastal evolutions.
Interpretation
 What happened, how, why, driving forces
Quantification
Is actually a check, is it making sense?
 Sediment budgets
o Sediment volumes, sources and sinks, transport paths

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 Paleo-hydraulics
o Models (different boundary conditions, tidal
ranges, wave conditions, patterns of currents
and transport)
 Long-term morphodynamics
o Dedicated models, what happens over time to
the coast (build up sea way, vertically etcetc)
Dutch coast
Wadden, Holland and Delta. Waddenzee; more tidal flats to the east. Rest spreekt voor zich. Delta
with flats, parallel to the channels.
 9000 PB – 8000 PB
o Low sea level (north sea= dry land)
o Channel = lake-ish  Walk from NL to ENG
o Rapid sea level rise  island created in the North sea
(doggebank) and coast NL at the place of today at 8000 PB
 Holocene dutch coast
o Tidals basins become coastal marshes
o Closed coastline forms at Holland and zeeland. Waddenzee is expending though
o 800 AD: zeeland is tidal area again (because of extensive peat excavation),
Waddenzee/zuiderzee formed.
o 1500 AD: Land is disappearing because of extensive peat excavation  most of NL
going back into the water  regulations were made
 Conclusion
o Continuous relative SLR, but slower over time
o Transgression – regression - transgression
 Erosion of headlands due to waves
 Infilling of basins by tides
 Import from North Sea by tides and waves
 Small river supply
Basics in long term coastal evolution

 Basal topography
o Pleistocene landscape
 Antecedent topography
 Basic relief
 Relative sea level
o Absolute sea level movements
o Land surface movements
 Isostatic (glacio movements)
 Compaction of sediments
 Tectonic
o  together, trendcurves. Southwest different than in the north (no isostatic
movements in the south anymore)

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 Accommodation space (increases with SLR)

o More room for sedimentation because lands drowns
 Sediment supply
o Sources
 Rivers
 Sea floor
 Longshore drift
o Sediment composition
o Transport processes
o Tidal asymmetry  north sea is flood dominated  infilling tidal basins
 Thus:
o Basal topography + Relative SLR = accommodation
space
o Accommodation space + sediment supply = coastal
evolution
 5000 PB: demand > supply =
basins/transgression
 2600 PB: demand < supply = filling in
o Barrier islands move landwards (sand moved through the dunes and deposits in the
marshes)
o Goeree  regression, beach is expanding
Holocene sediment budget

Sediment budget: sources, their contributions, sinks, transport paths
 First, deposits  sink  volume
 Time frame to determine rate of infilling
 Where does the sediment come from?  sources (sea, eroding headlands, river)
Middelzee case study

 Divided friesland
 800-1600 AD
 Basin expansion and siltation; excellent time control
and preservation
 Boorndiep – Boorne. Reclaimed since 1100.
o Reduction tidal prism (more over the years)
o Reduction channel cross section
o Reduction inlet cross section
o Tidal watershed moves to the east  migration of islands
 Formed in 200 years, reclaimed in 600  1.9 million m3/year, present day range

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Peat production fills up accommodation space; no

sediment needed.
Cross section: 226 billion m3

Timeframe assumed based on SLR
Growth of volume with time, corrections:
 Infilling tidal basins lagging behind RSLR
 Reworking of older coastal deposits
Sedimentation is slacking off, accommodation space

decreased.
Conclusion:
 There is no longer natural large-scale sediment
accumulation.
 Actually causes increased erosion
Case studie Waddenzee
Drives sediment budget of NL: Holland coast is

eroding, area in front of islands as well, to fill in the
tidal basins. Tidal range actually increased due to
afsluitdijk! Made almost where q = 0, so tidal prism
increased.
After construction of afsluitdijk; At texel main channel
disappears, second channel more to the south.
Paper for more details.

At vlieland and others same process; sand pushed
onto the island, channel smaller and deeper, ebb tidal
delta decreases.
Waddenzee is lagging infilling due to RSLR; apparently

there is a maximum. However, it does follow it
Nobody knows what will happen to Waddenzee; full
land, estuary?

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Egmond; 1600, city was where sea is now

Vlieland: different orientation (more to the west)
Voorne; 2 structures in the sea, WW2 bunkers (200 meters
recession since WW2!
Erosion mainly during storm surge  dune erosion 

cycle, sand should come back, unless transported
elsewhere (goes to Waddenzee!!!)
Delta works: erosion outside, accretion inside

Eastern Scheldt; changes in channels, but not outside
Proactive solution; beach nourishment; feed the dynamic equilibrium. However, big impact on
ecology/environment.
Left, without nourishment, right, with nourishment. Nourishment is mostly effective!

Coastal Dynamics 2

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lOMoARcPSD|1717990

Coastal Dynamics II (Technische Universiteit Delft)

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Small single basin

Small in comparison to tidal wavelength (100’s km)

If you know basin area and tidal range; flats, channel

Most is derived from field data; empirical relations.

Two basin system

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For sediment concentration, you solve an advection-diffusion

--> Exchange between watercolumn and bed level  bed

Aggregation can be seen in time (longer than tidal cycle) or

Sea level rise – land subsidence

Two element model

General situation for asmita:

ESTMORF, before ASMITA, less used. For systems like

Can be useful for a network model. Each cross section

For a river case (unidirectional quasi steady flow) the

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Not everywhere the same reaction on sea level rise in this

Parameter setting of semi-empirical long term morphological model

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120 mil. Kub per jaar!

Major interferences; afsluitdijk en lauwerszee, dammen in

Tidal prism is not changing much; equivalent volume of ebb tidal

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 If island is very small or basin is too deep: no watershed

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Tidal asymmetry and morphology

Short and closed basin

 High wave catches up with lower wave.

Linear solution, applies it to high and low water

Aim of dronkers: formulate a relation between tidal

Uses indicator for tidal asymmetry: difference

Hk = As/bk = bs/bk * H. Where bk is width of entire basin. Bs =

During CD1: bk = bs  there are no intertidal flats 

Momentum equation; use H not Hk, flow velocity only in H.

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There is an morphological equilibrium if there is no difference

Most of the dots above the line; flood dominance (H hw > H

Friedrichs & Aubrey

Right plot (phase difference)

Comparison two theories  almost same result.

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Theory of Dronkers for fine sediment (slack waters)

Red cross because dA/dt = 0 (see picture).

If you have a big basin, a lot of water: big b and H. A lot of

Tidal estuary; spatial differences between discharges.

Period of forcing << period of change in morphology

No general relation for that!

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Case study: Hedwigepolder

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Asmita = down-scaling. Upscaling = Delft3D etc.

Profile change + alongshore transport gradients  continuity

Sediment transport can be estimated by original transport

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Then apply a trick: S-phi curve. Sediment transport as a

Wave modelling is important for getting your coast model.

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 Higher wave condtions become

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3rd method is best in representing the S-phi curve!