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High quality laboratory measurements of nearshore waves and morphology change at, or near prototype-scale are essential to support new understanding of coastal processes and enable the development and validation of predictive models. The DynaRev experiment was completed at the GWK large wave flume over 8 weeks during 2017 to investigate the response of a sandy beach to water level rise and varying wave conditions with and without a dynamic cobble berm revetment, as well as the resilience of the revetment itself. A large array of instrumentation was used throughout the experiment to capture: (1) wave transformation from intermediate water depths to the runup limit at high spatio-temporal resolution, (2) beach profile change including wave-by-wave changes in the swash zone, (3) detailed hydro and morphodynamic measurements around a developing and a translating sandbar. Measurement(s) surf zone waves • swash hydrodynamics • surf zone flow velocity • morphology • sediment Technology Type(s) Gauge or Meter Device • Lidar • velocimetry • mechanical profiler • optical backscatter sensor • Pressure transducers Factor Type(s) Wave height • Wave period • beach morphology Sample Characteristic - Environment beach • shingle beach Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13194872 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising sea levels are expected to cause widespread coastal recession over the course of the next century. In this work, new insight into the response of sandy beaches to sea level rise is obtained through a series of comprehensive experiments using monochromatic and random waves in medium scale laboratory wave flumes. Beach profile development from initially planar profiles, and a 2/3 power law profile, exposed to wave conditions that formed barred or bermed profiles and subsequent profile evolution following rises in water level and the same wave conditions are presented. Experiments assess profile response to a step-change in water level as well as the influence of sediment deposition above the still water level (e.g. overwash). A continuity based profile translation model (PTM) is applied to both idealised and measured shoreface profiles, and is used to predict overwash and deposition volumes above the shoreline. Quantitative agreement with the Bruun Rule (and variants of it) is found for measured shoreline recession for both barred and bermed beach profiles. There is some variability between the profiles at equilibrium at the two different water levels. Under these idealised conditions, deviations between the original Bruun Rule, the modification by Rosati et al. (2013) and the PTM model predictions are of the order of 15% and all these model predictions are within ±30% of the observed shoreline recession. Measurements of the recession of individual contour responses, such as the shoreline, may be subject to local profile variability; therefore, a measure of the mean recession of the profile is also obtained by averaging the recession of discrete contours throughout the active profile. The mean recession only requires conservation of volume, not conservation of profile shape, to be consistent with the Bruun Rule concept, and is found to be in better agreement with all three model predictions than the recession measured at the shoreline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Run-up on a truncated impermeable beach is analysed theoretically and experimentally to find the volume of fluid, associated with a single wave event, that flows over the end of the beach. The theoretical calculations investigate the motion using the shallow-water equations and the fluid is allowed to flow freely over the end of the beach. Two models of wave events are considered: dam-break initial conditions, in which fluid collapses from rest to run-up and overtop the beach, and a waveform that models swash associated with the collapse of a long solitary bore. The calculations are made using quasi-analytical techniques, following the hodograph transformation of the governing equations. They yield predictions for the volume of fluid per unit width that overtops the beach, primarily as a function of the dimensionless length of the beach. These predictions are often far in excess of previous theoretical calculations. New experimental results are also reported in which the overtopping volumes due to flows initiated from dam-break conditions are studied for a range of reservoir lengths and heights and for a range of lengths and inclinations of the beach. Without the need for any empirically fitted parameters, good agreement is found between the experimental measurements and the theoretical predictions in regimes for which the effects of drag are negligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the swash zone, an assessment of swash flow properties requires an understanding of swash depth and swash velocity, which can affect sediment movement, as well as the design of coastal structures. The method of characteristics provides a useful tool to model unsteady shallow water flows, such as dam-break flow, swash flow and tsunami run-up. In this paper, bottom resistance was incorporated into the nonlinear shallow water equations to extend the application of the method of characteristics to account for frictional effects in the swash zone. The new characteristic equations are solved by the specified time interval scheme. The bottom resistance has little influence on the seaward swash hydrodynamics (initial swash stage), e.g., water depth and flow velocity, while its influence becomes significant in the small water depth region near the swash front, which reduces the maximum run-up height. At a specified time and location, and comparing with a frictionless swash solution, the uprush flow velocity reduces due to the bottom resistance, while the flow velocity increases during the initial phase of the backwash owing to the earlier reversal time with the bottom resistance. However, the differences with the inviscid solution are small within the swash lens. Conversely, the maximum backwash velocity is reduced significantly as a result of the shorter duration of the backwash. Consistent with previous field observations, friction does not significantly alter the gradient of the water surface elevation and a seaward-dipping water surface elevation is observed during the majority of the swash process. The dominant effect of bottom resistance is to reduce the range of inundation, particularly with larger resistance coefficients. The incorporation of the bottom resistance extends the application of method of characteristics in the swash zone to more practical problems, particularly where run-up elevation is critically important, e.g. overtopping flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The present work analyzes the hydro-morphodynamics characterizing the swash region during the uprush stage. A comparison is illustrated between the sediment transport measured in a series of dam-break experiments and that predicted by the numerical hydro-morphodynamic model of Postacchini et al. (2012). The primary aim is to investigate the differences arising between the weakly coupled or uncoupled model and the measurements, in terms of hydrodynamics, tip celerity and sediment transport. The hydrodynamics are well described by the model and results have been used to calibrate both friction factor and subgrid turbulent viscosity. Comparison of numerically-computed tip celerity with experimental data reveals a fairly good agreement, i.e. a mean error of about 10%, while modeled sediment transport differs by about 40% from the available data. No evident differences are found between results obtained from the coupled and uncoupled model runs (2% for the celerity and 11% for the sediment transport rate at the tip), suggesting that for the specific flow under investigation, at the leading edge of the swash front, hydro-morphological coupling is not an issue of fundamental importance. However, for the special case here of a swash forced by a dam-break, scour occurs at the dam location, and in this case the erosion of the bed is significantly larger in the uncoupled model. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Water level and current measurements from two virtually enclosed South Pacific atolls, Manihiki and Rakahanga, support a new lagoon flushing mechanism which is driven by waves and modulated by the ocean tide for virtually enclosed atolls. This is evident because the lagoon water level remains above the ocean at all tidal phases (i.e., ruling out tidal flushing) and because the average lagoon water level rises significantly during periods with large waves. Hence, we develop a model by which the lagoons are flushed by waves pumping of ocean water into the lagoon and gravity draining water from the lagoon over the reef rim. That is, the waves on the exposed side push water into the lagoon during most of the tidal cycle while water leaves the lagoon on the protected side for most of the tidal cycle. This wave-driven through flow flushing is shown to be more efficient than alternating tidal flushing with respect to water renewal. Improved water quality should therefore be sought through enhancement of the natural wave pumping rather than by blasting deep channels which would change the system to an alternating tide-driven one. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]