An analysis of nearshore profile and bar development under large scale erosive and accretive waves

ABSTRACT

Typical morphodynamic laboratory tests have been carried out at small scales and without sufficient coverage or resolution. These limitations, applying particularly to accretive tests, have obstructed reliable observations and restricted modelling capabilities. Here we present experiments with erosive/accretive waves acting on a large scale flume bed profile. The paper reports a set of high-quality hydro-morphodynamic data. The analysis is focused on net transport rates and how these patterns change between different accretive conditions. The measured velocity and acceleration skewness are presented and discussed, linking the net transport over the bar to the measured hydrodynamics and sediment concentrations. The resulting profile behaviour is discussed as a function of hydro-morphodynamic settings to facilitate comparisons with other datasets.

Keywords:

• Accretion and erosion
• mobile bed experiments
• suspended and bed loads
• sediment transport peaks

Acknowledgements

The authors want to acknowledge the discussions within the Hydralab team and the support of the CIEM staff and especially Q. Sospedra during the flume experiments. Finally, the authors want to thank the reviewers for their useful remarks that improved the manuscript.

ORCID

Agustin Sanchez-Arcilla http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3450-6697

Ivan Caceres http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7426-7029

Additional information

Funding

The experimental part of this work was supported by EC Q2 research project HYDRALAB+ [Horizon 2020 grant agreement number 654110]. The authors also want to acknowledge the support received from the MINECO-FEDER Plan-Wave project [CTM2013-45141-R]. This paper is within the work for research excellence by Secretaria d'Universitats i Recerca, Department ‘Economia i Coneixement, Generalitat de Catalunya [reference 2014SGR1253].