SIMULATING THE FORMATION OF TIDAL CHANNELS ALONG AN OPEN-COAST TIDAL FLAT: THE EFFECTS OF INITIAL PERTURBATION

Abstract

A state-of-the-art morphodynamic model (Delft3D) was used to explore the effects of bathymetric perturbation on the morphodynamic modeling of tidal channels and flats. Short-term and medium-term modeling results indicate that the two-way interaction of the hydrodynamic forcing and initial perturbation has influence on the evolution of tidal channel ontogeny. There is a critical range of the magnitude of initial perturbation, within which the morphodynamic development tends to be similar. By comparing with the case without initial perturbation, the case with a slight increase in perturbation magnitude can considerably enhance the rate of the morphodynamic development.