Onshore sandbar migration in the nearshore (07908)

The project "Onshore sandbar migration in the nearshore" aims to examine and model the physical mechanisms responsible for onshore sandbar migration. The breaking of energetic waves over bars induces offshore migration of sandbars due to strong, offshore-directed currents near the bottom, resulting in the bar moving in offshore direction. Modelling efforts of this offshore bar movement have been reasonably successful, but modelling efforts of onshore movement have commonly failed, indicating that the physical mechanisms governing the onshore migration in low-energetic wave fields are poorly understood. The problem will be approached by conducting a movable-bed wave flume experiment where state-of-the-art acoustic instruments will be used to capture and measure the important processes. We will investigate which processes are responsible for the sediment transport by analyzing the experimental data.

These findings will be modelled into new and improved sediment transport formulations that can be implemented in morphodynamic numerical models, to be applied for engineering studies and consultancy work. Representatives of research institutes, consultants and dredging contractors participate in the User Panel.