Simulating coastal HydrOdynamics and particle tRansport procEsses

Introduction

Beaches are eroding at many locations around the world and, with the pending climate change (sea level rise and increased storminess in Northern Europe), coastal erosion is expected to potentially worsen.

Challenges in Current Models

State-of-the-art practical engineering models for predicting sand and particle transport struggle with the cross-shore processes (perpendicular to the beach). They even have difficulties predicting the sign right (offshore transport vs. onshore transport) in an experimental setting where the boundary conditions are fully known.

The shortage of state-of-the-art models also means that the spreading of microplastic particles, which are increasingly polluting the oceans, cannot be predicted accurately. As a result, the future shape of the world’s coastal profiles and the fate of microplastic particles in the coastal region are largely unknown.

Project Objectives

SHORE aims to bridge this knowledge and competence gap and develop the first model capable of accurately simulating both on and offshore transport of sediments and microplastic particles without case-specific calibration.

Key Innovations

The new model will:

1. Break from central assumptions used in existing state-of-the-art models.
2. Utilize integrated rather than local quantities.
3. Include additional factors known to govern the physics in the complex region around the shoreline.

Methodology

The development of the novel model will be made possible by gathering a novel experimental database containing measurements across a wide range of scenarios and utilizing more advanced numerical models. These advanced models are too computationally heavy to be used to study morphology, but due to recent breakthroughs by my colleagues and I, they can be used to study the governing processes.

Expected Outcomes

The model developed within SHORE will subsequently be used to answer questions of great interest to research and society, such as the effect of climate change on coastal profiles and microplastic hotspots.