The effects of bedform roughness on hydrodynamics and sediment transport in Delft3D

To contribute to solving scientific and practical questions, numerical morphodynamic models like Delft3D are often used to predict the hydrodynamics, sediment transport processes and morphological development of coastal systems. In such models, many of the processes are parameterized based on a variety of assumptions. One of the parameterized variables is the bedform-related hydraulic roughness ks, which is often assumed to be related to the ripple height. This roughness affects the magnitude and vertical structure of the flow and, consequently, the magnitude of the sediment transport. Yet, their sensitivity to ks is not well understood

A Synthetic Spring-Neap Tidal Cycle for Long-Term Morphodynamic Models

Existing tidal input reduction approaches applied in accelerated morphodynamic simulations aim to capture the dominant tidal forces in a single or double representative tidal cycle, often referred to as a “morphological tide.” These strongly simplified tidal signals fail to represent the tidal extremes and hence poorly allow to represent hydrodynamics in the intertidal areas. Here, a generic method is developed to construct a synthetic spring-neap tidal cycle that (a) represents the original signal; (b) is exactly periodic; and (c) is derived directly from tidal time series or harmonic constituents. The starting point is a fortnightly modulation of the semidiurnal tide to represent spring-neap variations, while conserving periodicity. Diurnal tides and higher harmonics of the semidiurnal tide are included to represent the asymmetry of the tide. The amplitudes and phases of the synthetic signal are then fitted to histograms of water levels and water level gradients derived from the original sea surface elevation time series. A depth-averaged model of the Ems estuary (The Netherlands) demonstrates the effects of alternative tidal input reduction techniques. Adopting the new approach, the along-estuary variation in tidal wave shape is well-represented, leading to an improved representation of extreme tidal conditions. Especially the more realistic representation of intertidal dynamics improves the overall hydrodynamics and residual sand transport patterns, approaching nonschematized tidal dynamics

Tidal amplification and river capture in response to land reclamation in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta

At a global scale, intertidal areas are being reclaimed for agriculture as well as urban expansion, imposing high human pressure on the coastal zone. The Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta (GBD) is an exponent of this development. In this delta, land reclamation accelerated in the 1960's to 1980's, when polders were constructed in areas subject to regular marine flooding. A comprehensive analysis of tidal channel evolution in the southwest GBD reveals how land reclamation leads to tidal amplification, channel shoaling, bank erosion, and interaction between channels in which one tidal river captures the storage area of a neighbouring river. We identify-two positive feedback mechanisms that govern these morphological changes. First, reclaiming intertidal areas results in immediate loss of tidal storage, which leads to amplification and faster propagation of the tides. In systems with abundant sediment supply, the blind tidal channels progressively fill in with sediment, leading to a continued loss of tidal storage and therefore further distorting the tides. Secondly, when intertidal areas of parallel (and inter-connected) river delta distributaries are asynchronously or unevenly reclaimed, one channel distributary may expand its intertidal area at the expense of the other. This is initiated by an increasing propagation speed of the tidal wave in the partially reclaimed distributary, travelling into the non-reclaimed distributary through connecting channels. These connecting channels progressively expand while the pristine channel shoals, and potentially degenerates. Both positive feedback loops are very stable and are responsible for pluvial flooding of polders, large-scale bank erosion, and poorly navigable primary waterways, including the navigation channel accessing Bangladesh's second-largest port. Interventions aiming to solve these problems have to account for the complex positive feedback mechanisms identified in this paper and be nature-based and holistic

An integral approach to design the Roggenplaat intertidal shoal nourishment

The Eastern Scheldt, a tidal basin in the southwest of The Netherlands, underwent large physical and ecological changes due to a system-wide human interference. The construction of a storm surge barrier at the seaward side and closure of the upstream branches in the 1980s resulted in intertidal flat erosion. This has far reaching consequences for the ecological functioning of these habitats, especially as foraging ground for many wader species. Therefore, a 1.3 million m3 sand nourishment is foreseen on the Roggenplaat intertidal shoal to mitigate the erosion and preserve suitable foraging habitat for waders for the coming 25 years. This paper presents an integral nourishment design approach. It consists of the following steps: (i) understanding the morphology and ecology, (ii) translation of the nourishment objective into an evaluation framework, (iii) construction of a suitability map indicating potential nourishment locations, (iv) generation of nourishment designs, (v) short-term morphodynamic numerical model simulations, (vi) estimation of the long-term shoal development using a simplified approach, (vii) integral evaluation leading to the preferred design. This integral approach resulted in a design that is expected to fulfill the Roggenplaat nourishment objective, accounting for ecological, morphological, economical and technical aspects. This integrated approach could form a basis for future intertidal shoal nourishment designs worldwide.</p