[1] This paper presents an idealized morphodynamic model to predict river dune evolution. The flow field is solved in a vertical plane assuming hydrostatic pressure conditions. The sediment transport is computed using a Meyer-Peter-Müller type of equation, including gravitational bed slope effects and a critical bed shear stress. To avoid the necessity of modeling the complex flow inside the flow separation zone, we follow an approach similar to one used earlier to simulate the dynamics of wind-blown desert dunes. In case of flow separation, the separation streamline acts as an artificial bed and sediment avalanches down the leeside distributing evenly on the leeside at the angle of repose. Model results show that bed slope effects play a crucial role in the determination of the fastest-growing wavelength from a linear analysis. Flow separation is shown to be crucial to take into account if the dune lee exceeds a certain threshold slope. If flow separation is not included, dune shapes are incorrectly predicted and the dune height saturates at an early stage of bed form evolution, yielding an underprediction of dune height and time to equilibrium. The local bed slope at the dune crest plays a critical role for obtaining an equilibrium dune height. The simulation model is able to predict the main characteristics of dune evolution, such as dune asymmetry, dune growth, and saturation at a certain dune height. Dune dimensions, migration rates, and times to equilibrium compare reasonably well to various data sets.
[1] For the first time, detailed measurements of sediment concentrations and grain velocities inside the sheet flow layer under prototype surface gravity waves have been carried out in combination with measurements of suspension processes above the sheet flow layer. Experiments were performed in a large-scale wave flume using natural sand. Sand transport under high waves in shallow water is mainly contained within the so-called ''sheet flow layer,'' a thin layer (10-60 grain diameters) in which the volume concentration of sand decreases by an order of magnitude from a value near 0.6 at the stationary bed. The thickness of the layer varies over a wave cycle and the maximum thickness increases with increasing peak Shields stress. The concentrations within the sheet flow layer vary approximately synchronously with the orbital velocity measured by an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) located 0.1 m above the bed, with typical phase lags of 0-p/5. In contrast, the suspended sediment concentrations a few centimeters and higher above the bed exhibit larger phase lags. Grain velocities were successfully measured in the middle and upper portions of the sheet flow layer around the time of their maximums. These velocities increased weakly with elevation from approximately 50% to 70% of the velocity outside the wave boundary layer. The observations are compared to previous experimental work and are found to be mainly consistent with observations in steady unidirectional flows and in oscillating water tunnels (OWTs), although differences in the suspended sediment concentration and the total sediment transport rate are apparent. Observations are also compared to two very different models: a 1DV suspension model for oscillatory flow with enhanced boundary roughness and a two-phase collisional grain flow model for steady unidirectional flow. While the suspension model describes the velocity profile fairly well and the collisional model describes the concentration profile well, neither model accurately predicts both the velocity and the concentration and therefore the sediment flux over the full vertical extent of the sheet flow.INDEX TERMS: 4546 Oceanography: Physical: Nearshore processes; 4558 Oceanography: Physical: Sediment transport; 3022 Marine Geology and Geophysics: Marine sediments-processes and transport; 3020 Marine Geology and Geophysics: Littoral processes; KEYWORDS: sediment transport; sheet flow; bed load; suspension; large wave flume; sand transport models Citation: Dohmen-Janssen, C. M., and D. M. Hanes, Sheet flow dynamics under monochromatic nonbreaking waves,
Abstract. Field observations often show a considerable variation in mean grain size along the coastal profile. Under high waves in shallow water, bed ripples are washed out, and sheet flow becomes the dominant transport mode: large amounts of sand are transported in a thin layer close to the bed, i.e., the sheet flow layer. This paper focuses on grain size influences on transport processes in oscillatory sheet flow. Experiments were carried out in the Large Oscillating Water Tunnel (LOWT) of Delft Hydraulics, in which near-bed orbital velocities in combination with a net current can be simulated at full scale. Three uniform sands with different mean grain size were used. It was found that in contradiction to expressions found in literature, both the erosion depth and the sheet flow layer thickness are larger for fine sand (Ds0 = 0.13 mm) than for coarser sand (Ds0 -> 0.21 mm). Measured time-averaged velocity and concentration profiles indicate that the presence of a sheet flow layer leads to an increased flow resistance and to damping of turbulence and that these effects are stronger for a thicker sheet flow layer (i.e., for fine sand). These mobile-bed effects are analyzed further by comparing the measurements with the results of a one-dimensional vertical advection-diffusion boundary layer model. Simulating the mobile-bed effects in the model by introducing an increased roughness height and a reduced turbulent eddy viscosity showed that the roughness height is of the order of the sheet flow layer thickness and that turbulence damping increases for a decreasing grain size. 27,103
[1] Flow separation plays a key role in the development of dunes, and modeling the complicated flow behavior inside the flow separation zone requires much computational effort. To make a first step toward modeling dune development at reasonable temporal and spatial scales, a parameterization of the shape of the flow separation zone over twodimensional dunes is proposed herein, in order to avoid modeling the complex flow inside the flow separation zone. Flow separation behind dunes, with an angle-of-repose slip face, is characterized by a large circulating leeside eddy, where a separation streamline forms the upper boundary of the recirculating eddy. Experimental data of turbulent flow over two-dimensional subaqueous bed forms are used to parameterize this separation streamline. The bed forms have various heights and height to length ratios, and a wide range of flow conditions is analyzed. This paper shows that the shape of the flow separation zone can be approximated by a third-order polynomial as a function of the distance away from the flow separation point. The coefficients of the polynomial can be estimated, independent of flow conditions, on the basis of bed form shape at the flow separation point and a constant angle of the separation streamline at the flow reattachment point.
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