Sediment Transport Modeling

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 July 2015) | Viewed by 47117

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Guest Editor
Oceans Graduate School and The UWA Oceans Institute, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia
Interests: coastal oceanography; mixing and circulation; physical processes; coastal observations; numerical modeling; sediment transport; remote sensing; estuaries; nearshore processes
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The re-suspension, transport and deposition of sediment in the coastal ocean plays an important role in many issues such as coastal stability, dredging management, pollutant transport, and biological productivity, by influencing the water column light climate. In recent years there have been numerous efforts to improve parameterizations and applications of coastal sediment transport models including the use of three-dimensional models and the inclusion of feed-back loops in morphological models. These include studies of sediment transport in a variety of coastal environments from estuaries and from the beachface to the shelf break. This Special Issue will provide a compilation of the state of coastal sediment transport models and their applications. Papers are invited that deal with sediment transport models (both cohesive and non-cohesive) in the following area:

  • Estuaries
  • Swash zone
  • Surf zone
  • Coastal morphological change
  • Continental shelves

This Special Issue is launched to provide a compilation of current state of the art and future perspectives in numerical modeling of sediment transport in coastal seas, nearshore and in estuarine systems.

Winthrop Prof. Charitha Pattiaratchi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • sediment transport modeling
  • cohesive and non-cohesive sediments
  • suspended, bedload and total load
  • coastal morphological change
  • estuaries
  • swash zone
  • surf zone
  • continental shelves

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

5316 KiB  
Article
The Validation of a New GSTA Case in a Dynamic Coastal Environment Using Morphodynamic Modelling and Bathymetric Monitoring
by Michael O’Shea and Jimmy Murphy
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2016, 4(1), 27; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse4010027 - 17 Mar 2016
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4951
Abstract
Several methods of monitoring sediment transport exist and have varying degrees of success depending on the study sites characteristics. Grain Size Trend Analysis (GSTA) is an experimental method based on identifying transport trends from the variation of sediment grain characteristics within a defined [...] Read more.
Several methods of monitoring sediment transport exist and have varying degrees of success depending on the study sites characteristics. Grain Size Trend Analysis (GSTA) is an experimental method based on identifying transport trends from the variation of sediment grain characteristics within a defined study area. The parameters examined when performing GSTA are mean grain size, sorting coefficient and skewness, the most common cases found in field studies being; finer, better sorted and negatively skewed (FB−) or coarser, better sorted and positively skewed (CB+), as most transport trends follow one or the other trend. However, on Rossbeigh beach, Co. Kerry, Ireland, a coarser poorer and more negatively skewed (CP−) trend case gave the most realistic plot of sediment transport trend when compared with sediment transport calculation, bathymetry surveys, hydrodynamic monitoring and morphological modelling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sediment Transport Modeling)
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6312 KiB  
Article
Multi-Fraction Bayesian Sediment Transport Model
by Mark L. Schmelter, Peter Wilcock, Mevin Hooten and David K. Stevens
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2015, 3(3), 1066-1092; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse3031066 - 22 Sep 2015
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5096
Abstract
A Bayesian approach to sediment transport modeling can provide a strong basis for evaluating and propagating model uncertainty, which can be useful in transport applications. Previous work in developing and applying Bayesian sediment transport models used a single grain size fraction or characterized [...] Read more.
A Bayesian approach to sediment transport modeling can provide a strong basis for evaluating and propagating model uncertainty, which can be useful in transport applications. Previous work in developing and applying Bayesian sediment transport models used a single grain size fraction or characterized the transport of mixed-size sediment with a single characteristic grain size. Although this approach is common in sediment transport modeling, it precludes the possibility of capturing processes that cause mixed-size sediments to sort and, thereby, alter the grain size available for transport and the transport rates themselves. This paper extends development of a Bayesian transport model from one to k fractional dimensions. The model uses an existing transport function as its deterministic core and is applied to the dataset used to originally develop the function. The Bayesian multi-fraction model is able to infer the posterior distributions for essential model parameters and replicates predictive distributions of both bulk and fractional transport. Further, the inferred posterior distributions are used to evaluate parametric and other sources of variability in relations representing mixed-size interactions in the original model. Successful OPEN ACCESS J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2015, 3 1067 development of the model demonstrates that Bayesian methods can be used to provide a robust and rigorous basis for quantifying uncertainty in mixed-size sediment transport. Such a method has heretofore been unavailable and allows for the propagation of uncertainty in sediment transport applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sediment Transport Modeling)
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6350 KiB  
Article
Coupled Wave Energy and Erosion Dynamics along a Salt Marsh Boundary, Hog Island Bay, Virginia, USA
by Anthony M. Priestas, Giulio Mariotti, Nicoletta Leonardi and Sergio Fagherazzi
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2015, 3(3), 1041-1065; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse3031041 - 15 Sep 2015
Cited by 49 | Viewed by 8263
Abstract
The relationship between lateral erosion of salt marshes and wind waves is studied in Hog Island Bay, Virginia USA, with high-resolution field measurements and aerial photographs. Marsh retreat is compared to wave climate calculated in the bay using the spectral wave-model Simulating Waves [...] Read more.
The relationship between lateral erosion of salt marshes and wind waves is studied in Hog Island Bay, Virginia USA, with high-resolution field measurements and aerial photographs. Marsh retreat is compared to wave climate calculated in the bay using the spectral wave-model Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN). We confirm the existence of a linear relationship between long-term salt marsh erosion and wave energy, and show that wave power can serve as a good proxy for average salt-marsh erosion rates. At each site, erosion rates are consistent across several temporal scales, ranging from months to decades, and are strongly related to wave power. On the contrary, erosion rates vary in space and weakly depend on the spatial distribution of wave energy. We ascribe this variability to spatial variations in geotechnical, biological, and morphological marsh attributes. Our detailed field measurements indicate that at a small spatial scale (tens of meters), a positive feedback between salt marsh geometry and wave action causes erosion rates to increase with boundary sinuosity. However, at the scale of the entire marsh boundary (hundreds of meters), this relationship is reversed: those sites that are more rapidly eroding have a marsh boundary which is significantly smoother than the marsh boundary of sheltered and slowly eroding marshes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sediment Transport Modeling)
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6114 KiB  
Article
The Influence of Bed Roughness on Turbulence: Cabras Lagoon, Sardinia, Italy
by Clémentine Chirol, Carl L. Amos, Hachem Kassem, Alice Lefebvre, Georg Umgiesser and Andrea Cucco
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2015, 3(3), 935-956; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse3030935 - 19 Aug 2015
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 7491
Abstract
Estimates of bed roughness used for predictions of sediment transport are usually derived either from simple scalars of the physical roughness (i.e., ripple height or grain size) or from the hydrodynamic roughness length (Zo) based upon velocity gradient estimates in the [...] Read more.
Estimates of bed roughness used for predictions of sediment transport are usually derived either from simple scalars of the physical roughness (i.e., ripple height or grain size) or from the hydrodynamic roughness length (Zo) based upon velocity gradient estimates in the benthic boundary layer. Neither parameter accounts for irregular bed features. This study re-evaluates the relation between hydrodynamic roughness and physical bed roughness using high-resolution seabed scanning in the inlet of a shallow lagoon. The statistically-robust relationship, based on a 1D statistical analysis of the seabed elevation at different locations of the Cabras lagoon. Sardinia, has been obtained between Zo and the topographical bed roughness Ks by defining Ks = 2*STD + skin friction, with STD the standard deviation of the seabed elevation variations. This correlation between Ks and Zo demonstrates that the roughness length is directly influenced by irregular bed features, and that the Reynolds number accounts for the total drag of the bed: the data points collapse on the Law of the Wall curves with a fitting factor x = 0.5. Further testing must be done in other locations and in the fully-rough domain in order to test how widely those new parameters can be applied. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sediment Transport Modeling)
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2755 KiB  
Article
Formulating Fine to Medium Sand Erosion for Suspended Sediment Transport Models
by François Dufois and Pierre Le Hir
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2015, 3(3), 906-934; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse3030906 - 19 Aug 2015
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5925
Abstract
The capacity of an advection/diffusion model to predict sand transport under varying wave and current conditions is evaluated. The horizontal sand transport rate is computed by vertical integration of the suspended sediment flux. A correction procedure for the near-bed concentration is proposed so [...] Read more.
The capacity of an advection/diffusion model to predict sand transport under varying wave and current conditions is evaluated. The horizontal sand transport rate is computed by vertical integration of the suspended sediment flux. A correction procedure for the near-bed concentration is proposed so that model results are independent of the vertical resolution. The method can thus be implemented in regional models with operational applications. Simulating equilibrium sand transport rates, when erosion and deposition are balanced, requires a new empirical erosion law that involves the non-dimensional excess shear stress and a parameter that depends on the size of the sand grain. Comparison with several datasets and sediment transport formulae demonstrated the model’s capacity to simulate sand transport rates for a large range of current and wave conditions and sand diameters in the range 100–500 μm. Measured transport rates were predicted within a factor two in 67% of cases with current only and in 35% of cases with both waves and current. In comparison with the results obtained by Camenen and Larroudé (2003), who provided the same indicators for several practical transport rate formulations (whose means are respectively 72% and 37%), the proposed approach gives reasonable results. Before fitting a new erosion law to our model, classical erosion rate formulations were tested but led to poor comparisons with expected sediment transport rates. We suggest that classical erosion laws should be used with care in advection/diffusion models similar to ours, and that at least a full validation procedure for transport rates involving a range of sand diameters and hydrodynamic conditions should be carried out. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sediment Transport Modeling)
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5892 KiB  
Article
Hydrodynamic and Sediment Modelling within a Macro Tidal Estuary: Port Curtis Estuary, Australia
by Ryan J. K. Dunn, Sasha Zigic, Murray Burling and Hsin-Hui Lin
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2015, 3(3), 720-744; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse3030720 - 24 Jul 2015
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 7780
Abstract
An understanding of sediment transport processes and resultant concentration dynamics in estuaries is of great importance to engineering design awareness and the management of these environments. Predictive modelling approaches provide an opportunity to investigate and address potential system responses to nominated events, changes, [...] Read more.
An understanding of sediment transport processes and resultant concentration dynamics in estuaries is of great importance to engineering design awareness and the management of these environments. Predictive modelling approaches provide an opportunity to investigate and address potential system responses to nominated events, changes, or conditions of interest, often on high temporal and spatial resolution scales. In this study, a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model and wave model were validated and applied to generate forcing conditions for input into a sediment transport model for the period 7 May 2010–30 October 2010 within a macro tidal estuary, Port Curtis estuary (Australia). The hydrodynamic model was verified against surface and near-bottom current measurements. The model accurately reproduced the variations of surface and near-bottom currents at both a mid-estuary and upper-estuary location. Sediment transport model predictions were performed under varying meteorological conditions and tidal forcing over a 180-day period and were validated against turbidity data collected at six stations within Port Curtis estuary. The sediment transport model was able to predict both the magnitudes of the turbidity levels and the modulation induced by the neap and spring tides and wind-wave variations. The model-predicted (converted) turbidity levels compared favourably with the measured surface water turbidity levels at all six stations. The study results have useful practical application for Port Curtis estuary, including providing predictive capabilities to support the selection of locations for monitoring/compliance sites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sediment Transport Modeling)
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5458 KiB  
Article
Modeling Near-Surface Suspended Sediment Concentration in the English Channel
by Nicolas Guillou, Aurélie Rivier, Francis Gohin and Georges Chapalain
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2015, 3(2), 193-215; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse3020193 - 5 May 2015
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 5841
Abstract
The present study investigates the performances of the three-dimensional multicomponent hydro-sedimentary model ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System) to predict near-surface suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) in the English Channel (western Europe). Predictions are assessed against satellite-retrieved observations from raw MODIS and MERIS images for [...] Read more.
The present study investigates the performances of the three-dimensional multicomponent hydro-sedimentary model ROMS (Regional Ocean Modeling System) to predict near-surface suspended sediment concentrations (SSC) in the English Channel (western Europe). Predictions are assessed against satellite-retrieved observations from raw MODIS and MERIS images for the year 2008 characterized by the highest availability of cloud-free data. Focus is put on improvements obtained with: (1) SSC inputs at the open boundaries; and (2) simple parameterizations of the settling velocity and the critical shear stress. Sensitivity studies confirm the importance of the advection of fine-grained suspended sediments in the central waters of the English Channel exhibiting benefits of refined SSC estimations along the sea boundaries. Improvements obtained with modified formulations of the settling velocity and the critical shear stress finally suggest possible seasonal influences of biological activity and thermal stratification on near-surface SSC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sediment Transport Modeling)
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