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Study questions for oral exam Coastal Dynamics 2

Coastal Dynamics II (Technische Universiteit Delft)

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Study questions and learning objectives CD2

Laura: Hee guys, ik heb mijn mondeling vandaag (maandag) al gehad en gehaald :). Dus heb onderaan dit
document even een samenvatting geschreven met alles wat me gevraagd werd, dan weet je een beetje wat
er van je verwacht wordt! En als je nog vragen hebt moet je maar even appen ofzo! Succes in ieder geval!

Inlets and basins

General, from ‘exam powerpoint’:
• Tidal asymmetry
–why do we have it,
- tidal signal at sea itself can be asymmetrical
- influence of tidal system morphology
- river inflow, stokes drift, geometry induced residual flow
and how does it create Se x u cda x as zetgroep zat sax diment import/export?
- Horizontal asymmetry/skewness: e.g. flood dominance: higher flood velocities move more sediment in
the basin
- vertical asymmetry: only import/export of coarse material:
- • Effects human interventions (empirical relationships)
• Modeling basins
– which model to choose

Lecture 1: Introduction; Inlets and Basins 1

At the end of this lecture you should be able to understand and reproduce the relevant assumptions with
respect to the ASMITA model.

1. What do the two time scales in a two element model represent?

Small time scale: if one element contains too much sediment, and the other one too little.
Large time scale: when both elements have too little sediment (sediment is required from outside)

2. Explain in short the difference between a process-based model and a semi-empirical model.
Process-based models: equilibrium not known beforehand, detailed presentation for medium-term time scales,
up-scaling approach, equilibrium follows from balance of forces/transport contributions
Semi-empirical models: equilibrium is incorporated in the formulas, so ‘criterium’ is that equilibrium can exist.
For very long time scales; down-scaling approach; equilibrium is forced.

3. Should the nodal tide variation (18.6 year cycle) be included in the model, and why (not)? How?
On longer time scales: Yes, because the amplitude of this tidal component is about 4% of the tidal range, and
on a longer time scale 0.04 sx tidal range is quite large.

4. How can you explain that the nodal tide variation (18.6 year cycle) gives the same phase lag (of 4 to 5 years)
for different basins? the phase lag is given by phase lag = - arg C = arctan (ωT). For very large numbers of T, the
phase lag will be 0.5π, so a quarter of the period of the 18.6 year cycle = 4 to 5 years.

5. Why is it hard to model sea level rise in Delft3D/process-based model?

Because it is a long term phenomenon which is not suitable for a process-based model like Delft3D.

6. Why is Delft3D/process-based model not suitable for modelling long term phenomena?

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Because it involves small-scale systems (like storm response, siltation of channels, migration of sand waves etc),
for which only upscaling factor of 1 to 10 are ‘allowed’ (or medium-scale systems for which upscaling factors of
10-100 are allowed) . Putting a too high scale factor will cause a mismatch between the hydrodynamics and the
morphology.

7. What is the problem when solving sea level rise in a semi-empirical model?
There is a critical value for the sea level rise: if the rate of change is too large, the system can never get into
equilibrium again, while the semi-empirical model actually has as a criterium that equilibrium can be reached

Lecture 3: Inlets and basins 2

At the end of this lecture you should know which factors influence the positions of the tidal watersheds and
how the movements of the tidal watersheds influence the morphological development

Own study questions:

1. Why did Eierlandse gat only show erosions and Ameland only show sedimentation after the closure of the
Zuiderzee?
???? Weet iemand dit al? (Huub; op welk stuk van college wordt dit gevraagd?) Anouk: Wordt niet in een
college gevraagd, alleen het viel mij op aan de lecture notes en vroeg me dus af of er een verklaring voor was.
Kan dus ook dat het niks met de closure van de Zuiderzee te maken heeft. .Ik denk dat het iets met watershed
te maken heeft, maar weet niet zeker. (Ik denk eerder aanpassing van eb/flood dominance, oftewel iets van
import of export van zand of het vullen van de kanalen) Ik zat hier ook aan te denken maar anders zouden ze
vragen “directly after the closure” (dacht ik). Nee denk eigenlijk ook wel dat het met ebb- and flood dominance
te maken heeft. Wss is de ene ebb-dominant geworden, waardoor erosie is ontstaan, en de andere flood-
dominant, waardoor sedimentation is ontstaan
2. Why were there local problems with respect to water quality and bottom pollution in the closed part of the
basin?
no water circulation/basin closed off

3. Explain the difference between morphological tidal divide and hydraulic tidal divide.
Morphological tidal divide: a shape of the morphology of the basin → where we have a shallow part
Hydraulic tidal divide: zero flow or minimum flow → sediment transport is small

Anouk: Jup, in zo’n paper staat ook: “A hypothesis is that a system is in equilibrium concerning the locations of
the tidal watershed when the two types of watershed are at the same location and when out of equilibrium,
the morphological tidal watershed moves in the direction of the hydraulic tidal watershed.

4. How did the tidal watersheds shift due to the closure of the Zuiderzee & Lauwerszee?

Huub: did they shift? and if so, look at the total tidal prism change with the basin parts. Is this tidal prism
affected? (I believe a bit, but not much, this closure was designed not to affect the prism too much).
Furthermore an increase of tidal range could affect the watershed.

Roland: In college they said that the tidal prism is lower after closure. This leads to sedimentation in the
channel of the inlet and a decrease of the ebb tidal delta. Will this lead to a higher wave height in the inlet,
than yes, the watershed is shifted to the inlet that has a higher wave height. But I’m not sure if the wave height
is getting higher (no sense), so I think the watersheds is not shifting. It’s not really about the wave height, but
about the tidal amplitude/range.

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They are shifting, and I found just now that they explain it in the paper ‘Movement of tidal watersheds in the
Wadden Sea and its consequences on the morphological development’:
Lauwerszee:
“Due to the closure of the Lauwerszee, which was a part of the tidal basin of the Frisian Inlet, the tidal
watershed behind the Schiermonnikoog Island has moved eastwards, and the tidal watersheds behind the
Engelsmanplaat have moved westwards.”

Zuiderzee:
“After the construction of the Afsluitdijk closing the Zuiderzee from the Texel Inlet and the Vlie Inet, the tidal
watershed separating Texel Inlet and Vlie has been moving such that the basin Texel Inlet becomes larger at the
cost of the Vlie basin.” …. “At present, the Texel Inlet basin is still smaller than the Vlie basin but the Texel basin
is increasing in size at the cost of the Vlie basin. The system is thus developing towards a situation with larger
sediment demand.”
Actually, in none of the two papers about the effects of the closure of tht tidal basins, a good explanation is
given for this.. maybe it’s not really known yet
-----
In general: in the past, the position of the tidal inlets and thus also the positions of the tidal watersheds were
more or less anchored by the large basins behind them (Zuiderzee, Lauwerszee). Because of the closure of
(parts of) these basins, such anchors are removed. Since then, the position of the tidal watersheds started
moving, and nowadays the positions are not fixed.

4b) Why is it important to know all this?

The movement of a watershed after interference appears to be important for the morphological development
not only in the basin in which the interference takes place, but also in the adjacent basins. As a consequence
the morphological equilibrium in a basin changes in time. Understanding of the movement of the tidal
watersheds is thus important for the prediction of the morphological development and the sediment demand
in the Wadden Sea on the long-term, and thus relevant for the practice of coastal maintenance and the
sustainable management of the Wadden Sea.

(In short, the movement of the tidal watersheds influence the equilibrium of the basins, which in turn influence
the sediment exchange between the North Sea and the barrier islands. This exchange is in most cases sediment
import into the Wadden Sea basins. Therefore, the movement of the tidal watersheds is not only of important
for maintenance and management of the Wadden Sea but also of the North Sea coast)

4c) Which factor(s) is/are important for the existence of tidal watersheds?
A tidal watershed can only exist if the propagation of the tidal wave on the sea side of a barrier island is much
faster than the propagation in the basin behind the island. So the tidal watershed can only exist if the Wadden
Sea is relatively shallow. Also, the tidal watershed can only exist when the island is relatively long.

5. a) What is the cause for the closure of the Lauwerzee leading to erosion of the intertidal flats and not of the
adjacent coasts?
Probably because the sediment from the intertidal flats in the basin was (almost) enough to make equilibrium
again. (tidal prism decreased so equilibrium volume had to decrease too -> tidal flats ‘too big’ and tidal
channels ‘too big’, so sediment from tidal flats imported in the tidal channels)

This is supported by the following explanation in one of the suggested papers:

“ The tidal asymmetry changed such that it become more flood-dominant favouring sediment import.”... “The
sedimentation in the basin and the erosion of the ebb-tidal delta are more or less in balance. As a

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consequence the closure has not caused erosion problems of the adjacent coasts, in contradiction to the
closure of the Zuiderzee.”

Anne: smaller tidal flow so less built up of the flats. waves are still present so therefore erosion of the flats.

b) And why did the closure of the Zuiderzee lead to erosion of the adjacent coasts?
The difference in the erosion after the closure of the Zuiderzee and Lauwerszee (Zuiderzee: erosion of adjacent
coast; Lauwerszee: no erosion of adjacent coasts) can be explained as follows.
Both closure have in common that they caused sedimentation in the remaining tidal basins.
Zuiderzee
Since the tidal prism did not decrease after the closure of the Zuiderzee (because it was a long basin and due to
the unique location of the Afsluitdijk); the equilibrium size of the ebb-tidal delta should remain the same.
Therefore, the sediment that was imported to the basin had to come from the adjacent coasts.
Lauwerszee
See also answer to previous question: since here the closure did lead to a decrease in tidal prism, there was a
sediment deficit in the basin, and at the same time a sediment surplus in the ebb-tidal delta. Therefore, the
sediment deficit in the basin can simply be satisfied by eroding the ebb-tidal delta.

6. What is the pollution of the Haringvliet dam upstream of the closure & what caused it?
Decrease of tidal flow (because of closure), leads to settling of finer sediment. They won’t move any more after
closure and this results in more (suspended) sediment upstream of the closure → More pollution
(this is said in college)
Nice, thanks!

7. How did the position with respect to the coastline of the Haringvliet, Grevelingen and Eastern Scheldt dam
influence whether it became a sink or a source?
The historical morphology dictates the if it becomes a sink or a source. For instance, if there is a deep (old)
gully present, it will be filled up in order to become a coastline and thus will be a (temporary) sink.
Furthermore, if you place the dam more towards the coastline the gully’s will be cut of and only (if present) the
old ebb delta will remain, this delta is then a surplus and ready for erosion (thus transport to adjecent
coastline). Concluding: it becomes a (temporary) source.

If you put a closure more to the mouth, you allow old morphology than if you put it more landward (said in
college). (maybe wrong, previous answer is good).

Zoals beantwoord door Sierd. (Anne stelde deze vraag aan hem,) Je bedoelt het eerste antwoord, die in rood?
ja!
Ah nice, it’s also explained in more detail in one of the papers: The development can mainly be explained by
the disappearance of the tidal flow in the cross-shore direction, and thus a significant decrease of the tidal
volume. A smaller tidal volume means a smaller ebb-tidal delta, and smaller tidal channels for the new
equilibrium. This explains the erosion at the shoreface and the sedimentation in the tidal channels. So indeed,
because the Haringvliet sluices are located relatively landwards, the sedimentation in the channels is
dominating with respect to the shoreface (ebb-tidal delta) erosion, therefore the area around the Haringvliet
sluices became a sink of sediment. The brouwersdam, however, is located more seawards, making the
shoreface (ebb-tidal delta) erosion dominant with respect to the sedimentation in the channels → this area
became a source of sediment!

8. How did the type of closure of the Haringvliet, Grevelingen and Eastern Scheldt dam determine the type of
environmental problems?

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- Haringvliet: see above question!!

- Grevelingen: closed dam → insufficient refreshment of basin because of limited exchange with sea ->
water quality problem
- Eastern Scheldt: storm surge barrier → less tidal currents → tidal channels too deep but no sediment
available due to barrier → tidal flats erode/decrease to ‘feed’ the channels, but tidal flats are living habitat for
birds (so bird population in danger).. Also scour holes before surge barier are created.

9. Why does the Wadden Sea still exist if the Wadden Sea is always importing sediment?
Due to SLR: the sea level rise balances with the sediment supply, so the Wadden Sea is in equilibrium

10. Does the wave climate also change due to a closure dam (e.g. Delta area)?
Wave climate does not change by this? A closure may lead to a decrease of ebb tidal delta. This could lead to
waves that penetetrate further in the gorge of a tidal basin. But does this change the wave climate?

Wind waves will still be generated despite of the dam.

11. What determines the the position of the tidal watershed?

The variation if the tidal range and the phase lag. The variation of the tidal range is the most important factor
for the linear solution, and the phase lag is the most important factor from the non-linear solution.

And, whether the situation is more linear or non-linear, depends of course on the water depth - to wave height
ratio. So when the amplitude to depth ratio is larger, the non-linear effects become more important, and
therefore the influence of the phase lag is more important for the position of the tidal watershed.

12. How can you explain that the tidal watersheds in the Danish wadden sea are not more on the north side,
while the tidal wave propagates northwards and the tidal range decreases from south to north?
According to the non-linear solution, the phase lag is more important so you would expect the tidal divide to
be more to the North side. (since the tidal wave propagates northwards). According to the linear solution, the
tidal watershed is expected to be located towards the basnin with the largest tidal rage (largest tidal
amplitude), which is in this case more towards the South (since the tidal range decreases from South to North).
Adding up these two effect causes the watershed to be quite in the middle.

Lecture 4: Inlets and basins 3

At the end of this lecture students should be able to discuss the feedback between the characteristics of the
tidal wave and basin morphology.

1. Give two possible contributions/causes to the pitched forward tidal shape of a shallow water tide in a tidal
basin.
- river discharge
- High tide propagates faster than the low tide
- Friction gives an additional slowing down of the low tide (‘feels’ the bottom more).
- Overtide: combination of M2 and M4 tide with no phase difference gives skewed signal which also
causes residual sediment transport

2. How/why are horizontal asymmetry and residual flow relevant for morphological modelling?
They are for … because:
-(Semi-) empirical models: qualitative theoretical basis for the existence of morphological equilibrium

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- Process-based models: tidal asymmetry as important factor determining residual sediment transport → set up
& calibration of the model

3. What is meant with ‘representative tide’ or ‘morphological tide’?

the tide influenced by the morphology / spatial variation taken into account. Can be seen as the ‘dominant
discharge in rivers.
Anne: one tide that represents the residual transport well, such that you don’t have to take all components into
account

4. Why is it so hard to measure the residual transport?

since the residual transport is a small difference between to large numbers (flood- and ebb transport), the
accuracy of these numbers can be in the same range as the difference between these numbers. Compare with
gross & nett transports in longshore sediment transport, same problem there

Coastal modelling
Questions from ‘exam powerpoint’:
• Model types
–underlying assumption
–limitations
• Model schematic (how does it work)
• Model performance (how do we assess it)
• Acceleration techniques
–why can we use it? when not?
–how much? What criteria?

Lecture 2: Coastal modelling 1 (mainly UNIBEST)

After this lecture you should understand how UNIBEST CL works and be aware of the application range.
1. For what applications do you use a coastline model (single line model)?
● large scale sediment budgets
● assessment of impact of structures on coast (groynes, harbours, land reclamations, sand mining and
dumping)
● longshore sediment (re)distributions in small bays
● beach design

Lecture 5: Coastal Modelling 2 (input reduction techniques)

At the end of this lecture students should be able to apply and evaluate input reduction techniques

Own questions:
1. What to they mean with ‘targets’ in this context?
Targets is the resulting condition you want to model. This can be longshore sediment transport, cross-shore
sediment transport, a certain effect of a local structure (erosion around groin). You callibrate/validate your
model to reach this specific target, but be careful because the model does not automatically predict all other
conditions right as well. So if your target is alongshore transport, don’t think that it predicts the cross-shore
transport exactly as well.

This can also be net or gross transport. As the slide says: “Sometimes nett, but better gross transports”. In
unibest they calculate with net transports. The net transport is the transport when looking at all the different
climates and directions. But for example the carrara coast uses modelling with only the gross transports of NW
and SW directions

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Simple target and Comprehensive targets: Slides college 2 modelling

2. DIfference between method 2 (manual grouping of classes) and method 3 (grouping with equal
contribution)?
Manual selection is subjective and requires an expert opinion (method 2). The grouping with equal
contribution is objective and can be coded (Method 3)

3. What is meant with ‘T_p’ directly from climate (H_s, Dir)?

T_P is the peak period. This the wave period with the highest energy. This peak period is extracted from the
JONSWAP.

4. How are the scaling factors determined in the reduction methods for simple targets (conditions with largest
contribution, manual selection, bins with approximately equal weight)?
For the ‘highest contributions’ method, the scaling factors are the same for all blocks. For method 2 & 3
(manual & equal contribution), the upscaled weights are determined per block, see slides.

Study questions:
1. Does the Sand Engine respond to gross or net transports? Why? To gross transports, since we have several
wave directions (two wave conditions).
gross transports, because there are two wave conditions present at the Dutch coast.

And if you would have considered net transport (with only 1 direction), you would not obtain a good
representation of the sediment transport at the top of the sandmotor.

Lecture 6: Coastal Modelling 3 (mainly Delft3D) (IMPORTANT FOR EXAMINATION!)

Study questions:
1. Delft3D contains a loop that updates the bathymetry with the bottom change. Without this loop, it would be
just the ‘Initial Sedimentation Erosion’ (ISE) pattern. Why is this not enough?
● horizontal scale is much larger than the vertical scale, and the ISE emphasizes the vertical scale.
● the ISE will show small adjustments to initial bathymetry, that will probably be not that important for
longer time period, because they smooth out.
2. What happens with a ‘bump’ on the bottom (a moving bar) without the feedback loop, compared to with a
feedback loop?
- without feedback loop: vertical excursion of the bump, because the ISE doesn’t say anything about the
horizontal excursion. → the bump becomes unrealistically high!
- with feedback loop: deformation of the bump, horizontal migration
3. Explain the concept of Continuity Correction.
is used in the offline upscaling technique of process-based models. It’s an inner loop between the bed change
to the ‘transports’ step. It’s assumed that the flow pattern does not vary too much for small bottom changes,
just as the waves. Flow velocity is the only thing that is actually recalculated with the adjusted bed level. then
the sediment transport is calculated with this new flow velocity. from thereon the bed level change. then the
velocity is calculated again with this increase or decrease in bed level → u = Q(stays constant)/A(constant in
horizontal direction, varies in the vertical direction = Za +/- dZa), this is done about 50 times until the fully
morphological loop is done again.

4. How should one account for hurricanes on long term simulations?

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5. Why is the vertical (‘breathing’) grid of the Delft3D model finer near the water surface and the bed bottom?
Near bottom: more details and large gradients in sediment concentration near the bed.
Near water surface: breaking processes require a higher resolution.
6. What is meant with an ‘efficient grid’?
local refinments only where needed
7. Name 6 processes where waves and currents interact.
● wave-breaking → undertow
● waves → bed shear stresses
● wave set-up and set-down due to gradients in radiation stress
● rip current generation due to variation in wave set-up
● vertical mixing due to turbulence generated by wave set-up
● cross-shore and longshore currents due to wave breaking
● when incoming waves and ebb current: waves get shorter, steeper and higher

8. What would happen without viscosity/turbulence accounting for wave breaking at the bed bottom?
F = f du/dz v, so if v <, du/dz> so vertical s in the velocity profile will become much larger.--> and therefore
larger bed shear stress (erosion)

Lecture 7: Coastal Modelling 4 (Modelling practice)

Calibration, validation and application.

Nearshore processes
Questions from ‘exam powerpoint’:
• Bound long waves
–where do they come from?
–what happens in the surf zone?
• Mass flux under waves
–where do we (not) see it?
• Dune erosion modeling
– what do we need?

Lecture 8: Nearshore 1
At the end of this lecture the student should be able to explain in detail how waves generate currents in the
nearshore and how driving mechanisms vary depending on distance to the beach.

Own questions:
1. What happens to waves as they approach the shore?
The wavelength and the wave celerity decrease, while the wave height increases. The wave height is limited by
wave steepness and by the water depth. The breaking of waves by the limited water depth starts at a
waveheight-to-waterdepth-ratio in the order of 1.

2. Name three effects of the surface roller in breaking waves.

1. transport of mass onshore
2. exerts shear on surface underneath the roller
3. injects turbulence into water column

3. How is the wave dissipation process done in numerical models of the nearshore (e.g. Xbeach)?
Step 1: Wave energy is converted to so-called roller energy. This reduces the wave height and feeds the energy

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of the roller.
Step 2: The roller energy is dissipated to turbulence
Wave energy → Roller energy → Turbulence

4. Explain roughly how the Hasselman force works. Why is it so difficult to measure the effect of the Hasselman
force in the field?
The Hasselman force is one of the (many) explanations for the ‘piecewise compensation of the Stokes’ drift’.
Hasselman derived that the effect of including the Coriolis force in the 3D momentum balance on the wave
orbital motion, could explain a net flow which is equal but exactly opposite to the Stokes’ drift velocity.

It is so difficult to measure, because of the velocities being very small, in the order of cm’s per second.
Secondly because we often have currents by tide and winds that are much larger.

5. Explain how a rip current is created. (mass transport over bar, conservation of mass, width of the rip)
see lecture about rip currents

Study questions from the lecture notes:

1. What does the vertical profile of the horizontal velocity look like? Make a sketch and explain.
Inside the surf zone: Maximum onshore velocity located a the crest/ surface, max offshore flow around mid-
depth. The Lagrangian Stokes’ flow is nearly depth uniform as horizontal orbital motions are less variable (than
in deep water), and the Eulerian undertow maximum at mid depth. Therefore, the Lagrangian (net) flow is
forward in the top of the water column, and offshore near the bed.

Outside the surf zone: the Langrangian (net) profile is exactly vertical: The Stokes’ drift is large near the surface
and tapers off to deeper water as the oribtal velocity decreases, which is compensated by an Eulerian flow that
is equal but opposite to this Stokes drift.

2. What is the difference between this profile inside and outside the surfzone?
- Inside the surf zone the Stokes’ drift is nearly depth uniform, outside the surf zone it is not.
- Inside the surf zone the Stokes’ drift counteracting force is undertow, which has a maximum at mid
depth
- Outside the surf zone the Stokes’ drift counteracting force is piecewise compensation which is exactly
equal to the Stokes’ drift at every depth but directed opposite.
- therefore, inside the surf zone there is a ‘vertical imbalance’ in the compensation of the Stokes drift,
whereas outside the surf zone it’s piecewise compensation
-
3. Estimate the wave celerity of a wave at breakpoint for a 1 m wave and a 4 m wave.

4. Where is the velocity amplitude varying the most over the water column, in deep or in shallow water?
The velocity amplitude varies the most over the water column in shallow water, since the Lagrangian flow is a
vertical line in deep water..

5. Do the equations for u also hold for the wave boundary layer?
No.

6. Study questions: during which part of the wave period is the horizontal velocity u maximum forward? Are

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surface elevation and horizontal velocity in phase?

The maximum forward velocity is at the wave crest; the maximum backward velocity is at the wave trough. Yes,
surface elevation and horizontal velocity are in phase for propagating waves.

7. Explain with a simple sketch at which vertical position the net onshore transport is the largest and explain
your reasoning.
In the trough you have an offshore mass transport as well, resulting in a less onshore transport.
The crest is not always present and therefore, the mass net transport in the crest must be zero at the top.
In the middle, the net onshore transport is biggest due to these effects.

8. Imagine a small water particle just below the location where the water level crosses the zero level at t=t0.
Where is the particle at t=t0+dt (second or so later)? Can you explain this using the phase relation beteen eta,
u and w?
Depend on the location of the crossing one can say something about the new location. If at crossing between
trough → crest: then water particle moving to right and up. If at crossing between crest → trough: then particle
moving to the left and down. There is a 90 degrees phase difference between u and w.
Willem: I dont agree. ‘At’ the crossing there is no horizontal motion. If between crest → trough you have to
distinguish if the particle is below the crossing or above it. Below results in upward left and above it results in
upward right. If between trough → crest then it follows: Below: down left and above: down right.

Like:
:)

Huub: I interpretated the question by looking at: “Just below the location”. Just as in the lecture, where
Matthieu asked about the direction, just below the location. I remember this quite well, because I had to
answer the question in the lecture and was wrong (which was a bit painful)
^.^ haha
9. EXAM Questions: What about a vertical Stokes’ drift? Why doesn’t it exist?
A vertical stokes’ drift would imply a horizontal gradient for the vertical velocity, which is not the case for a
horizontal bottom. This means that for a sloping (or irregular) bottom, there is in fact a vertical Stokes’ drift!

10. What is the dependency of mass transport on wave height? (What happens to the mass transport if te
wave height becomes twice as large)?
(Larger wave heights lead to larger rollers and therefore more mass transport, since the ‘available’ reduction in
wave height is proportional to the feeding energy to the surface roller.
Mass transport outside the surf zone: M = E / c
Mass transport inside the surf zone: M = E/c + alpha E_r/c
Huub; inside surfzone celerity is independent of wave height, right? Yes. So I don’t know if this last sentence is
always right. It is true for mass transport outside the surfzone)

Huub: Outside surfzone: Mass transport is depended on the energy divided by celerity: M = E /c . An increase
of the wave height is translated into an increase of energy, as E = ⅛ * rho * g *(H^2). So this means an increase
of the mass transport.

11. When would you use either Lagrangian or Eulerian flow values?
Eulerian velocities used to compare the standard models against flow measurements with fixed instruments.
Lagrangian velocities are used to assess the behaviour of transported material.

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12. Explain to a fellow student how to compute net transport by waves in the Eulerian and Lagrangian
framework.
Net transport by waves (Lagrangian flow) = Stokes drift + Eulerian flow
If you want to compare model results with a fixed instrument, compare the Eulerian velocity. So subtract the
Stokes drift from your (Lagrangian) velocity computed in the model. If you measure Eulerian transports in the
field, the Stokes drift should be added to get the Lagrangian velocities.

13. How big is the depth averaged Stokes velocity for a 1 m waveheight in 2 m of water?
Fill in: <u_st> = E/(rho*h*c) = ⅛ * rho * g * H^2 / (rho * h *sqrt(gh))

14. How does <u_st> depend on the wave height? Or the waterdepth? Or the wave period?
Wave height: <u_st> ∼ H^2
Water depth: <u_st> ∼ h^-1,5
Wave period: (Huub; longer period, higher celerities, at deep water)

15. Try to explain to a fellow student how one can estimate mass transport outside and inside the surf zone.
Outside the surf zone the mass transport is given by M = E/c
Inside the surf zone the mass transport is given by M = E/c + alpha* E_r/c (the roller energy)

16. Explain what the individual terms represent in the momentum equation (Coriolis, horizontal mixing etc).

Lecture 9: Nearshore 2
At the end of this lecture, students should be able to describe the characteristics of long waves as they move
from offshore to inshore. Students should be able to explain and illustrate the different processes using
drawings as well as be able to explain how long waves are affected by properties of the short waves and the
beach slope.

Own questions:
1. Explain why the bichromatic long wave is often called a ‘bound long wave’.
Bichromatic waves have frequenties that lie very close to each other? They are called ‘bound’ because they are
connected to wave groupes and they travel at same velocity as the wave groups.

2. What causes an increase in the the long wave amplitude?

This is mainly depth dependent. If c_g aproaches the shallow water wave equation sqrt(qt), it results in very
large bound wave amplitudes! (sinceyou divide by a very small number, approaching zero, to find the surface
elevation). This is a sort of resonance. Offshore however, where Cg, the long wave amplitude is nearly zero.

3. Why are long wave motions important for coastal engineering? And very low frequency motions?
Long wave motions are important for the wave run-up (and dune erosion, sediment transport, ship motion, ice
sheet collapse). Moreover, they cause offshore transport.
Very Low Frequency motions are also effective in pushing material outside of the surf zone. (and for transient
rip currents, rip current strengthening, mixing/distribution of sediment).

Study questions (from the slides):

1. Estimate the timescale of the fast timescale and the slow oscillation for a component of 10 econds and of 11
seconds.
Fast part: Time scale is the average of the radial frequency of the two components.

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ω_1 = 2*pi/T_1 and ω_2 = 2*pi/T_2. Fast time scale w_average = (ω_1 + ω_2) / 2 = 0,6 → T_fast =
2*pi/w_average = 10,47 s
Slow part: (ω_1 - ω_2) / 2 = 0,03 → T_slow = 2*pi / 0,03 = 220 s
The slow part determines the velocity of the group / bichromatic wave. Here, you can calculate the velocity of
the bound long wave.

2. Where do wave groups in nature come from? How is this related to radial and frequency dispersion of
waves?
Wave groups come from frequency and directional dispersion.
Bound long waves are created due to frequency and spatial dispersion. After a storm, a lot of different waves
are generated with their own direction and frequency. Due to the difference in direction, waves start to travel
in groups with waves that are going the same direction. As these waves have different frequencies, they have a
different propagation speed and therefore group with waves travelling at the same speed. These wave groups
usually propagate for a long time before reaching the coast.

3. Is Tgroup identical to the timescale of the slow oscillation that you calculated for the bichromatic wave based
on a 10 and 11 second wave? Why (not)?

Huub: No, the Tgroup is calculated by 2pi/delta ω. This 110 s (where the slow part was 220 s). (weet nog niet
waarom)
I would say that the slow oscillation part of the bichromatic wave should be the same as the Tgroup. However,
they are different with a factor 2. The Tgroup could be the halve of the slow oscillation part? Don’t know it yet.

4. If we have a point at the peak of the envelope (red dot) that travels with this envelope and we compare it
with a point that is at the crest of the highest wave at the start of the animation. Which one travels faster?
The envelope, …
The wave group travels slower than the individual waves.

5. For slide 9 ( continuity and momentum equation), see if you can replicate how these two equations simplify
to the one long wave equation on the bottom of the slide.

6. Think of the lectures on tidal motion. Is the long wave equation also applied in this field?

Huub: yes, but without the forcing variation of Sxx. This is thus the long wave equation and can be used for
tidal propagtion, where advection, friction, horizontal diffusion and short wave effects are neglected. (coastal
boek pagina 125)

7. What effect does the minus sign in the equation for the surface elevation of the long wave equation have?
The minus sign shows that the long wave surface elevation is exactly out of phase with short waves. ( where
waves are high, long wave surface elevation is low, and the other way around).
The surface elevation of the bound long wave is out of phase with the bichromatic short wave field. (see figure
on slide 12)

8. Which parts of the expression for the long wave surface elevation are depth dependent?
The denominator part (c_g^2-gh) is very depth dependent. If c_g aproaches the shallow water wave equation
sqrt(gh), it results in very large bound wave amplitudes! (sinceyou divide by a very small number, approaching
zero, to find the surface elevation). This is a sort of resonance. If an expression is derived which expressed the
long wave surface elevation in depth dependency, we get that eta ∼ h^-2.5

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Offshore however, where Cg deviates largly from sqrt(gh), the long wave amplitude is nearly zero.

9. After the long wave is released (and becomes a free long wave), is it then moving faster or slower than when
attached to the wave group?
As a bound long wave, the celerity is given by the group velocity: c_g= nc
As a free long wave, the celerity is given by: c = sqrt(gh)
The wave group travels slower than the individual waves, so the freelong wave will travel faster than the wave
group as soon as it released. correct! het gaat hier dat om dat de bound long waves released worden op het
moment dat de short waves breken. hierdoor is de long wave niet meer bounded. Dit leid tot een kleine
toename van de snelheid. Uit snell’s law volgt dat sin(\thete)/c=constant. aangezien c groter wordt moet theta
groter worden. Dus heel dicht bij de kustlijn zal de long wave dus het tegenovergestelde van refracten doen,
hierdoor heeft de reflected wave ook een grote uitvals hoek en kunnen we dus trapped waves ontstaan.

Laura: Once the bound long waves become released, can’t you assume that they are in shallow water? Because
in shallow water n=1, and therefore the group velocity would be equal to the free celerity? So they would
travel at the same speed, inside and outside the wave group.

Huub: Laura, you are right that they are in shallow water, but i think they phrase to question in that way that
you should compare it with bound long waves, say 1000 meters offshore. Then there will be a difference
between cg and c=sqrt(g*d). Then from that speed it will slowly transform to shallow water speed. (zelf zit ik
een beetje vast in mijn hoofd met de vraag; wat is sneller cg of c_shallow? Ik geloof cshallow, zal wel aan het
late uur liggen)

Laura: Ja ik had het er gisteren met Thijs over, en wij kwamen er op uit dat het idd is dat als ze free worden dit
gebeurd in intermediate/shallow water, maar dat daar waarschijnlijk n nog niet helemaal gelijk is aan 1, meer
iets van 0.8/0.9 dus dat dan nog de individuele waves sneller gaan dan de wave group.

10. For obliquely incident waves, which are the new terms in the 2D long wave equation and what do they
represent?
- water level gradient in y-direction
- variations in radiation stress in alongshore direction (2 terms)

11. What happens if the alongshore wave number is very small, what would then be the direction of the long
waves?
If the alongshore wave number is very small, the waves are almost normally incident.

Lecture 10: Nearshore 3 - Nearshore circulation

At the end of the lecture students should be able to discuss the different coastal settings in which rip currents
occur and their primary drivers. Combining the topics in the Nearshore lectures 1-3 the student should be able
to discuss the nearshore transport of suspended matter (sediment/swimmers).

Own questions:
1. Where does the maximum velocity of the rip cells occur?
Inside the surf zone, where the maximum forcing is present owing to the dissipation of waves.

Huub: is this the case? I thought the highest velocites occur near the rip neck. This was also visable in the
movie with the die. (fast acceleration) Maar kan dat niet alsnog in de surf zone zijn? Kan zijn, maar ik zou het
gewoon rip neck noemen en niet heel erg focussen op dissipation of waves, want dat gebeurt gewoon overal.
I should say rip neck. It is never told how long or where the rip neck exactly begins or ends. However, in slide 44

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they say: The maximum mean current of the rip cells occurs inside the surf zone, where the maximum forcing is
present owing to the dissipation of the waves.

Study questions (from lecture slides):

1. Can you think of two explanations for the asymmetry in the nearshore circulation (slide 22)?
- other currents influencing the path of the rip current ??
- variation in the driving forces of the rip current (Very Low Frequency motions, Stokes drift) ??
- alongshore current
- Different size of wave groups
- Wave angle
- shoal assymetry

2. Why does material stay inside the surf zone for so long? and which mechanism are important?
- Stokes drift is very effective in keeping the material inside the surf zone (whereas VLF motions can
push the material beyond the surf zone edge).
- Moreover, the number of exits (from the surf zone) depends on the surf zone width. More suspended
matter is kept inside the surf zone if the surf zone gets less wide).
So greater width surfzone leads to more material outside. What is the reason for this? I don’t know!!!
can anyone tell me? Maybe it’s in one of the papers, there’s one about the experiment of the drifters
where these factors influencing the number of exits were affirmed in measurements
- Anne: As long as breaking occurs on the shallow platforms drifters will return, when breaking is
offshore of the platforms they will go offshore
- Huub: I also found this a bit confusing, but they key to finding the solution is remembering that the
coast has transverse bars. See also Anne’s answer.

3. What determines whether a swimmer is in distress stays in or out?

- Stokes drift: is very effective in keeping the material inside the surf zone
- VLF motions: these can push the material beyond the surf zone edge.
- Surf zone width: number of exits (from the surf zone) depends on the surf zone width. More
suspended matter is kept inside the surf zone if the surf zone gets less wide).

4. How are rip currents distributed over the depth?

Drifters only measure the top/surface layer. In the first part of the rip current, the rip current flow is depth
uniform, so the drifters are a good representation of average flow. Further offshore in deeper water, the rip
current is located more at the surface (there is less flow at the bottom).

5. Why would it be necessary to add the random phase (use a random phase model)?
To get a similar wave field, that representative for reality. If they all would have the same phase beginning with
a cos, this could lead to an unrealistically high wave height at x=0, t=0 since all wave heights would be summed
up.

6. Explain why the roller energy moves with the wave celerity c rather than c_g.

Huub: groups can’t break. They are rollers at the moment that break. This means that they are not in a group
any more → follows wave celerity c.

Lecture 11: Nearshore 4 - Storm impact

At the end of this lecture the student should be able to explain the important physical processes that govern
the extent of storm impact and replicate how sediment is transported in a numerical model such as Xbeach.

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Own questions:
1. What is the difference between te Bruun rule & storm erosion rate?
The Bruun rule assumes the profile stays the same over time, whereas storm erosion
Bruun profile always has the same slope, the profile is just shifted. The storm erosion profile (Dean) gets
smaller slopes

2. Why is it important to understand the previous changes during the collision regime very well?
Since the regimes often occur sequentially, this is important to predict the inundation.

3. Why are the following nearshore processes important for dune erosion?
Wave impact, low frequency motions, turbulence, sliding/avalanchig of the dune face
Wave impact: imposes load and makes part of the dune wet/exerts a force on the dune face
Low frequency motions/long waves: near the shore they have more energy
Turbuluence: stirring up of sediment
Avalanching/sliding: destabilizing process that causes sediment from the top of the dune to slide down towards
the dune toe.

4. In what way does vegetation on the dune give an extra protection to dune erosion?
Vegetation can keep the top part of the dune connected, which makes the process of slumping/avalanching of
the dune face more difficult, thus preventing dune erosion.

5. What are the advantages of using a process model for predicting storm response over using an empirical
model?
- it can also be used to examine temporary behaviour
- it can be used for more complex coasts (e.g. with alongshore variation)

6. Why is the equilibrium concentration formula of Soulsby van Rijn acceptable for storm conditions, but not
accurate for normal conditions?
The formula of Soulsby van Rijn combines suspended load and bed load in one equation. This can be done for
storm conditions since there is a lot of suspended transport during these conditions. During mild conditions
this might not be that accurate as suspended and bed load may not be in similar direction.

Study questions (from lecture slides):

1. How are the 4 main processes that are important for dune erosion incorporated in empirical models?
Wave impact: Ho
Turbulence: I guess w (settling velocity)
Long wave motion: Tp
Avalanching/slumping: I think this is incorporated in the shape (thus solely in the numbers)
This is in one of the papers about the storm impact/dune erosion

2. What direction is the sediment transport offshore of the surf zone?

This is dependent on the bound long waves; (Coastal boek 333). The concentration of the sediment is highest
where short waves are highest, but the bound long wave is at its trough → causing net transport off shore.

3. On slide 35, which of these equations represents the conservation of momentum in the y direction?
dhv/dy? The first eq is the mass balance, the other 2 are the momentum balances in both directions I think

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4. “”, Which of the terms represent the water level gradient?

-g d(eta)/dy and -g d(eta)/dx

5. In the advection-diffusion equation, used to model the sediment transport, why would there be a difference
between C (actual sediment concentration) and C_eq ( concentration based on the local hydrodynamics)?
The equilibrium concentration is the concentration that would occur if the concentration would react
instantaneous to the conditions. This is often not the case due to effects like friction etc.

6. What happens it T_s (timescale of adaptation) is very small or very large?

If T_s is very large, the morphology will adapt very slowly to the morphodynamics, whereas with a very small
T_s, the response is almost instantaneous.

7. Generally speaking sediment transport can be expressed in the form S=f(u^n), with u being an exponent.
Looking at this equation, what is the exponent between u and s?
Huub: I think this has to do with sediment transport for several different systems (rivers vs basins or lagoon
etc), where maybe the sediment transport has different formula’s but are always depended on u^n.
Difference between fine and coarse sediment
Yes, S=fu^3 is valid for coarse sediment (so then the exponent is 3) but not for fine sediment (since the
sediment does not respond instantaneously). This equation takes into account the overtides, as well as the
phase lag between the overtides and the M2 component (which are both important to determine whether
there is residual transport)(Lecture tidal inlets and basins 2). For fine/suspended sediment, a relaxation time
has to be taken into account to calculate the sediment transport.

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Holocene perspective

Lecture 12: Holocene perspective 1

At the end of this lecture, students should be able to discuss the tools, methods, interpretations and
quantification of long term development of coastal morphology.

tools:
seismic survey - drilling - lithology - sedimentary structures - fossils
sedimentary environment

Method / step by step:

Sedimentary environments - age - paleo geography - coastal evolution
hyptoheses

interpretation:
Initial conditions - mechanisms (what?) - driving forces (why) - processes (how?)

check:
quantification: sediment budgets

Lecture 13: Holocene perspective 2

1. Why does the Dutch coast look the way it does?
First, there was no coast (all land), then al the ice from the ice age started melting and sea level came up,
‘flooding’ the North Sea. Then, different time periods of transgression - regression and again trasngression
followed. The last transgression period, around 1500 AD, was actually due to man-induced sea level reduce
(despite slow sea level rise), due to extensive usage of peat. Eventually, since the North Sea is a flood-dominant
system, the basins filled in, which makes it a fact that most of the Netherlands is made up with infilled basins
(infilled ‘accommodation space’).
2. What drives long-term coastal evolution?
Accommodation space is the result of antecedent topography and relative sea level rise. Coastal evolution is
then determined by the accommodation space + the relative sea-level rise (or sediment supply?).
3. Does a rising sea level always cause erosions?
No, it depends on the sediment budget. The sediment supply can also ‘overwhelm’ the sea level rise and cause
regression.
4. Where did all the sediment come from?
There are several sources, such as rivers, deltas, and the North Sea bed. However, the major part came from
the North Sea bed, not from the Deltas
5. Is there still a natural sediment supply to the Dutch coast?
No, the sediment supply is artificial, by nourishments
6. Why should we know all this?
Knowledge about the coastal evolution of the Dutch coast also gives us information about how the coast will
develop in the future, and what we can do to mitigate in this.

Dutch Coastal Management

1. How do shoreface nourishments move towards the coast? And do they change in volume?
By bar migration, which also causes the nourishment volume to increase towards the coast

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