The University of the West Indies

Organization of American States

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME: COASTAL INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE

A COURSE IN COASTAL DEFENSE SYSTEMS I

CHAPTER 2

CROSS-SHORE SEDIMENT PROCESSES

By WILLIAN BIRKEMEIER, PhD
Coastal Hydraulics Laboratory US army Corps of Civil Engineers Vicksberg, MA Unites States of America

Organized by Department of Civil Engineering, The University of the West Indies, in conjunction with Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA and Coastal Engineering Research Centre, US Army, Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, MS, USA.

St. Lucia, West Indies, July 18-21, 2001

Bill Birkemeier
Coastal and Hydraulic Laboratory US Army Corps of Engineers

Established 1977 to support the US Army Corps of Engineers coastal mission

The Outer Banks The Outer Banks of North Carolina of North Carolina
Field Research Field Research Facility Facility

600-m Pier

Research Activities Beach erosion Sediment transport Nearshore waves & currents Navigation Instrumentation

Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras

 Characteristics of Profiles Surf Zone Cross-shore Transport Modeling Cross-shore Profile Response Sediment Transport Outside the Surf Zone

 CEM Part III

Outside surf zone Wind-blown
Longshore

Sand Cohesive Mixed

Cross-shore

Before

A few days later

Turbulence suspends sediments Bedload & suspended load

Onshore: sediments deposit on the forward motion of the wave Offshore: sediments settle out on the backward motion Gravity plays a role: downslope force & fall velocity Offshore & onshore directed mean flows

primarily undertow & rip currents, also upwelling & downwelling

Profile Line 188

27 Jan 98 1 Feb 98 19 Feb 98

Elevation (m)

Profile development & description Limits Volumes for Sediment Budgets

Distance (m)

Relevance of Cross-shore Transport

Relevance of Cross-shore Transport

When in balance, no Net transport

Force Breaking Nonbreaking Waves Waves N/m2 N/m2 0.84 28.9 28.6 0.046 28.6 0 ? Small 0.95

Constructive Average Bottom Shear Stress 0.84 (onshore Streaming Velocities 28.9 movement) Overtopping 28.6 Destructive
(offshore)

Gravity Undertow: Mass Transport Undertow: Momentum Flux

0.046 28.6 7.9 ? Large 0.95

Constructive Suspension or Turbulence Destructive Wind Effects

Example: H=0.78 m, h=1 m, T=8 s, f=0.08, Wind Speed = 20 m/s

Nearshore & Inner Shelf Mean Processes

Just outside the surf zone, hydrodynamics driven by surf zone processes plus surface wind stress and Coriolis. In the surf zone, mean currents driven by waves, wind stress still important

-13 m

From Lentz et al, JGR, Aug 15, 1999

 Important mechanism to transport Offshore transport in rips Onshore transport between rips

Beach
the zone of most concern

Active Nearshore
10

10
Elevation (m, NGVD)

Elevation, m NGVD

Bar Zone is most active

0

-5

-10 coarser -2 -1 0 1 2 3

-15

finer 4

-5

Median Grain Size (phi)

Shoreface Zone is less active, but equally significant

-10 0 200 400 600 800 1000

Distance, m

Cross-shore Profile: Activity & Extent

Sandbars are critical to the cross-shore movement of sediment on the profile
Beach Bar Zone Upper Shoreface

Elevation, m NGVD

Range of bar crest position Inner Outer Transitional

0

-5

27 3 16 8

Aug Nov Nov Apr

1982 1982 1982 1983

-10 0 200 400 600 800 1000

Offshore Distance, m

Storm Change
Profile Line 188
27 Jan 98 1 Feb 98 19 Feb 98

Elevation (m)

Storms always create sandbars or, if they exist, move them offshore

Distance (m)

1 0

Elevation (m, MLW)

-1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 100 200 300 400 500

2 Mar 1982 17 Mar 1982 3 May 1982 1 Sep 1982

600

700

Distance from Baseline (m)

 The presence of an outer sandbar contributes to inshore stability Deep sandbar changes occur during periods of intense storm activity The deeper the change, the longer the recovery

Distance Offshore, m

The Depth of Closure

**Depth at which there is minimal vertical change in the profile

Profile Line 188

27 Jan 98 1 Feb 98 19 Feb 98

Elevation (m)

27 Jan 1 - 1 Feb Feb19 Feb

Very important limit in modeling: Used to terminate computations

Distance (m)

Prediction
Proportional to wave height Event dependent Predictable Could be shallower Related to surf zone width Big assumption:
10

Observed DoC (m, MLW)

8 6 4 2 0

Pure cross-shore transport - not longshore

4 6 8 10 Predicted dl (m)

Beach Evolution
Reflective

Dissipative

< 1%

38% 7% 44%

Duck, NC

Longshore variation in shoreline change

Areas that erode the most, also recover the quickest

Sea Ranch Motel

Hypothesis - high-erosion zones linked to underlying geology Process not well understood Thursdays field trip!

Bruun Rule
Bruun Rule: a barrier island will maintains its form as it migrates in response to a rise in the adjacent ocean and lagoon

Mass is conserved, erosion = deposition

This is fundamental assumption to cross-shore models

Equilibrium Profile Concept

The profile is constantly evolves toward an equilibrium with the prevailing wave conditions
0 -1 -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 -9 0 50 100 150 200 250 300

D=0.3 mm D=0.7 mm

Equilibrium happens!

Depth, m

2/3 50
Distance Offshore

50

Relationship is empirical Recent research directed to equilibrium shapes with cross-shore varying D50

Field Research Facility, Line 62, 331 surveys (11 years)

-1 Profile Elevation, m (NGVD) -2 -3 -4 -5 -6 -7 -8 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 Distance from FRF Baseline, m Equilibrium Profile for Variable Grain Size Average

Cross-shore: Physical Modeling

Based on equilibrium profile Application of the Bruun rule Unrealistic profile shapes

SBEACH: Numerical Cross-shore model

Based on equilibrium profile shape and balance of: erosion = deposition

Useful for storm erosion modeling, which is more likely to be 2D

Reality
Useful guidance Many assumptions Requires careful interpretation, use of error bars

 Complex hydrodynamics
Non-linear interaction of waves and slowly varying currents Interaction of thin turbulent boundary layer with ripple bed, biology cohesive or non-cohesive sediments

Sediment transport
Primarily bedload, suspended during events Not well understood Normally onshore directed due to wave asymmetry. Offshore during events and combined flow

Important
Sediment Budget - offshore/gains and losses Long-term impact

Influences:

Sand supply Wave refraction Currents Transport pathways Sandbar morphology Shoreline response

Need to resolve regional processes

Courtesy RobThieler, USGS

Location of the Shoreface

Usually outside the surf zone and bar movement zone
Beach Bar Zone Upper Shoreface

Elevation, m NGVD

Range of bar crest position Inner Outer Transitional

27 3 16 8 Aug Nov Nov Apr 1982 1982 1982 1983

-5

-10 0 200 400 600 800 1000

Offshore Distance, m

Upper Shoreface Volume Changes

Slow cross-shore recovery punctuated by rapid deposition
200

Cumulative Volume Change (m3/m)

150 100 50 0 -50

Line 62 Line 188

Constant rate of Recovery

-100 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997

-150

Date

Pressure gauge

-0.7

1.0

Electronics
-0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.1

13 m sonar 8 m sonar 5 m sonar

0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 -0.2 -0.4 -0.6 -0.8 -1.0 -1.2 -1.4

Sonar Current Meters

10 5 0 -5 -10 Seaward CRAB survey extent -15 0 200 400 600 5 m Bipod

0.2 4/3/98

4/4/98

4/4/98

4/5/98

8 m Bipod 13 m Bipod

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

Distance from baseline, m

-0.3 Shallower -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2

13 m bipod 8 m bipod 5 m bipod

Deeper
0.3 9/1/97 12/1/97 3/1/98

6/1/98

9/1/98

12/1/98

Summary Important to Sediment Budget Not well understood Sandbar formation and movement are important to overall profile response
Many theories of sandbar location/shape

Profile changes are 2D - only during severe storms, otherwise 3D Sediment grain size typically decreases with depth important to transport Cross-shore models exist