Modelling of sediment transport in the presence of breakwaters

Abstract

This dissertation presents a model study on the sediment transport behind either a headland breakwater or a detached breakwater with emphasis on the latter. Two physical model and three numerical model investigations were conducted for this purpose. For the case of two headland breakwaters, four experiments were performed with varying wave amplitudes and incident angles. The results show the effects of the wave amplitude on the shoreline erosion rate and extent. A recent study by Wind (1994) on the time-evolution process of shoreline erosion behind headland breakwaters was discussed. Hyperbolic tangent typed functions are proposed to describe the time-evolution process of bay erosion behind the headland breakwaters.