NUMERICAL MODELLING OF MORPHODYNAMICS AROUND A TIDAL INLET

Abstract

A two-dimensional morphological model is used to study sediment transport and morphdynamics around a tidal inlet. The model includes the processes of erosion on side slope for the avalanching effects. The model has been tested against a laboratory study of an idealised tidal inlet configuration over 68 tidal cycles. The results show a reasonable agreement between the model and experiment measurements with a typical pattern of accretion at up-drift of the inlet and erosion at the down-drift. This study also reveals the importance of surface waves and cross-shore sediment transport to the evolution and migration of the tidal inlet.