A Numerical Study of Rip Current Generation Modulated with Tidal Elevations at the Daecheon Beach

Abstract

In order to investigate the generations of rip currents modulated with the tidal elevations at a mega-tidal beach at the West Sea coast, numerical simulations of rip currents over the topography of the Daecheon beach were performed by using a Boussinesq-type wave and current model, FUNWAVE. The mega-tidal coast includes rocky outcrops (i.e., reefs) lying over or under the water surface according to the tidal elevations in the offshore and nearshore bathymetry. The offshore topographically-controlled rip currents were well reproduced due to the alongshore non-uniformities transformed by the tide-modulated topography. This study addressed the generation types of rip currents to occur at the mega-tidal coast with the tide-modulated outcrops and reefs.