Two-Dimensional Numerical Modeling of Anthropogenic Beach Berm Erosion

Abstract:

Anthropogenic beach berms (sometimes called artificial berms or artificial dunes) temporarily enhance the ability of beaches to withstand overtopping and thus guard against coastal flooding. However, the combination of a rising tide, storm surge, and/or waves may erode anthropogenic berms in a matter of hours or less and cause flooding [1]. Accurate forecasts of coastal flooding therefore demand the ability to predict where and when berms fail and the volume of water that overtops into defended coastal lowlands. Here, a two-dimensional numerical model of swash zone waves and erosion is examined as a tool for predicting the erosion of anthropogenic beach berms.

The 2D model is known as a Debris Flow Model (DFM) because it tightly couples flow and sediment transport within an approximate Riemann solver and is able to resolve shocks in fluid/sediment interface [2]. The DFM also includes a two dimensional avalanching scheme to account for gravity-driven slumping of steep slopes.

The performance of the DFM is examined with field-scale anthropogenic berm erosion data collected at Newport Beach, California. Results show that the DFM can be applied in the swash zone to resolve wave-by-wave flow and sediment transport. Results also show that it is possible to calibrate the model for a particular event, and then predict erosion for another event, but predictions are sensitive to model parameters, such as erosion and avalanching.

References:

[1] Jochen E. Schubert, Timu W. Gallien, Morteza Shakeri Majd, and Brett F. Sanders. Terrestrial laser scanning of anthropogenic beach berm erosion and overtopping. Journal of Coastal Research In-Press, 2014.

[2] Morteza Shakeri Majd and Brett F. Sanders. The LHLLC scheme for Two-Layer and Two-Phase transcritical flows over a mobile bed with avalanching, wetting and drying. Advances in Water Resources, 64, 16-31, 2014.