Combined Longshore and Cross-Shore Modeling for Low-Energy Embayed Sandy Beaches

oleh: Yen Hai Tran, Patrick Marchesiello, Rafael Almar, Duc Tuan Ho, Thong Nguyen, Duong Hai Thuan, Eric Barthélemy

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-09-01

Deskripsi

The present study focuses on the long-term multi-year evolution of the shoreline position of the Nha Trang sandy beach. To this end an empirical model which is a combination of longshore and cross-shore models, is used. The Nha Trang beach morphology is driven by a tropical wave climate dominated by seasonal variations and winter monsoon intra-seasonal pulses. The combined model accounts for seasonal shoreline evolution, which is primarily attributed to cross-shore dynamics but fails to represent accretion that occurs during the height of summer under low energy conditions. The reason is in the single equilibrium Dean number <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi mathvariant="sans-serif">Ω</mi><mrow><mi>e</mi><mi>q</mi></mrow></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> of the ShoreFor model, one of the components of the combined model. This equilibrium Dean number cannot simultaneously account for the evolution of strong intra-seasonal events (i.e., winter monsoon pulses) and the annual recovery mechanisms associated with swash transport. By assigning a constant value to <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi mathvariant="sans-serif">Ω</mi><mrow><mi>e</mi><mi>q</mi></mrow></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula>, when the surf similarity parameter is higher than <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mn>3.3</mn></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula> (occurrence of small surging breakers in summer), we strongly improve the shoreline position prediction. This clearly points to the relevance of a multi-scale approach, although our modified <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><msub><mi mathvariant="sans-serif">Ω</mi><mrow><mi>e</mi><mi>q</mi></mrow></msub></semantics></math></inline-formula> retains the advantage of simplicity.