Combining High Resolution Measurements and Simulations of Near-Bed Sediment Transport Processes Under Large-Scale Breaking Waves

Abstract:

Physical processes involved in near-bed sediment transport under regular, breaking waves are investigated using a combined framework of high resolution measurement and numerical simulation. Experiments are carried out at full scale (0.85 m wave height, 4 s period) in the CIEM wave flume above a mobile sand bed (d₁₀, d₅₀, d₉₀ = 0.15 mm, 0.25 mm, 0.37 mm). Vertical profiles of co-located, two component (u, w) velocity and particle concentration are measured in the bottom boundary layer (BBL) using a multi-frequency acoustic concentration velocity profiler (ACVP) at several locations along the beach. The intra-wave free stream velocity measurements are provided as input to three dimensional Euler-Lagrange point-particle simulations of the BBL. Using a series of feedback controllers, the simulation forcing is adjusted to match the measured orbital velocity and turbulent intensities at an elevation of z~8 cm above the bed. The simulations treat sand grains both in the bed and in suspension as Lagrangian particles that respond to hydrodynamic and inter-particle forces. Particles are coupled to the near-bed hydrodynamics through the volume filtered Navier Stokes equations, which are solved in a finite volume LES framework at near particle scale. Several wave cycles are simulated in order to make direct comparisons of the mean and turbulent statistics with the measurements and to explore the near-bed particle response to wave breaking. Statistics of the space-time dependent grain-size distribution, a natural output of the particle-based simulations, are fed back into the acoustic calibration of the ACVP, improving the instrument's response to grain size sorting induced by the near bed flow. This cross validation and calibration of measurement and simulation allows for detailed interrogation of near-bed transport processes with minimal empirical assumptions relating to bed shear, particle pickup, or surface wave breaking.