Investigation of XBeach Cross-Shore Capacity Under Fixed Model Parameters
The current commercially available coastal processes modeling programs are computationally demanding and time-consuming. I am currently working on the parameterization of wave energy to volumetric sediment change in reference to the equilibrium beach volume. The parameterization will allow the simplification of the physical processes responsible for sediment transport which will, in turn, make the model developed computationally lite and significantly faster. XBeach is calibrated and used to generate beach volume change data under different conditions (wave heights, periods, and sediment characteristics). Below is an example of one of the surfbeat XBeach simulation investigating the sediment transport in the cross-shore direction.
This method will be less computationally demanding and can simulate long term beach volume and profile changes at little cost to the computer and time. I am deploying sediment traps in the swash zone of the beach at La Lucia (Durban) to collect transport rate data that will be used to further calibrate the XBeach model to produce a more realistic output, which will then be used to further calibrate the parameterization.
Dawit Seyoum
BSc ENG (Civil)
MSc ENG (Civil)