The Role of Wave Nonlinearity on Sediment Motion and Transport

Abstract:

It has long been assumed that higher moments of velocity and acceleration affect the motion and transport of mobile sediment beds. The goal of this effect is to identify the influence of wave shape on sediment motion and mobile layer thickness. Theoretic predictions of neared velocity and horizontal pressure gradient will be approximated with Dean's 1965 stream function theory for representing nonlinear waves. The formulation also allows for the inclusion of mean flow. Wave nonlinearity is characterized with skewness and asymmetry of the wave shape. An incipient motion criterion that resolves the fluid forcing due to both the bed shear stress and the horizontal pressure gradients is applied to a slab of sediment. The resulting formulation provides a measure of sediment transport vulnerability to commonly available wave parameters (wave height, wave period, water depth, skewness, and asymmetry). The formulation is compared with several available data sets with a range of forcing and sediment conditions. Particle image velocimetry observations of velocity and sediment motion and acoustic Doppler observations of the three-dimensional velocity field provide high resolution of the near bed dynamics. The wave shape is characterized with mid water column pressure sensors and wave gages. As the wave nonlinearities increase, the role of the horizontal pressure gradient also increases. The influence of the pressure gradient also is shown to be particularly sensitive to a decrease in the wave period and an increase in the wave asymmetry. The influence of the bed shear is shown to be particularly sensitive to wave skewness. The analysis demonstrates the potential for improving the larger scale predictions of sediment transport in our nearshore and coastal waters.