Experimental Investigation on the Mechanism of Longshore Sediment Transport Using a Circular Wave Basin

Abstract

In this paper, a hydraulic model experiment was conducted to investigate the mechanism of longshore sediment transport on a sloping beach of 1:7 using a circular wave tank equipped with a spiral wave maker. The experimental results revealed that cross-shore sediment transport was predominant up to the formation of equilibrium cross-section. Then the longshore sediment transport was actively dominant near the bar after the development of equilibrium topography. The wave-breaking positions and the characteristics of sand displacement in the vicinity of the wave-breaking zone were observed throughout the installation of fluorescent sands in different cross-sections under several wave conditions on the same terrain to presume the coastal erosion. From the outcomes, it was confirmed that the gradient of the average water level due to the obliquely incident waves breaking and the differences in breaking positions along the shoreline accelerated the generation of longshore currents and longshore sediment transport in the sloping beach profile. Moreover, the actively longshore sediment transport tendency throughout the breaking waves and the longshore current had been confirmed in this study where the gradually increasing wave heights influenced the stronger degree of wave breaking on the sloping beach, which enhanced the sediment transport procedure to deform the beach profile.