Inlets and channels are dredged often to maintain navigation safety. It is beneficial to reintroduce the dredged material back into the littoral system, in the form of beach or nearshore nourishments. Nourishment in the nearshore is becoming an increasingly utilized method, particularly for dredged material that contains more fine sediment than the native beach. This research examines the morphologic evolution of two different nearshore nourishments. A nearshore berm was constructed at Fort Myers Beach, Florida using mixed-sized sediment dredged from a nearby channel. The nearshore berm was placed in water depths between 1.2 and 2.4 m with the berm crest just below MLLW in the shape of a bar. The nearshore berm migrated onshore while the system was approaching a dynamic equilibrium. Near the end of the fourth year, the beach profiles had returned to the equilibrium shape characteristic of the study area. Gaps in the berm allowed water circulation and should be considered as a design parameter. The fine sediment fractions in the original placed material was selectively transported and deposited offshore, while the coarser component moved onshore. The dry beach maintained the same sediment properties throughout the study period and was not influenced by the fine sediment in the initial construction of the berm. Another nearshore nourishment was placed along eastern Perdido Key, Florida in 2011-2012 using maintenance dredged material from nearby Pensacola Pass. Different from the Fort Myers Beach berm, the material was placed within the swash-zone, with a maximum elevation of +0.91 m NAVD88 (or 0.62 m above MHHW). The low constructed berm elevation allowed natural overwash processes to occur frequently, which resulted in net onshore sediment transport and growth of the active beach berm. Sediment volume gain west of the project area due to longshore spreading of the nourishment occurred mostly in the trough between the shoreline and the bar, rather than on the dry beach. The swash-zone berm evolved back to the natural equilibrium profile shape maintained in the study area within 8 months. The performance of the swash-zone nourishment was compared to two previous beach nourishments at the same location in 1985 and 1989-1991, with higher berm elevations, at +3 m and +1.2 m NAVD88, respectively. The 1.2-km 1985 nourishment performed the poorest with a shoreline retreat rate of 40 m/year. The 7.3-km 1989-1991 nourishment performed the best with a retreat rate of 11 m/year. This suggests that high berm elevations do not necessarily lead to better nourishment performance. Longshore extent of a nourishment may play an essential role. The distant passage of two tropical storms (Tropical Storm Debby and Hurricane Isaac) generated high waves for the study areas. The two berm nourishments responded differently to the storm. Response was also compared to a beach nourishment in Sand Key. The bar-shaped Fort Myers Beach berm was split into two smaller bars, while a storm berm developed for the swash-zone nourishment at Perdido Key. In both cases, the energetic storm conditions accelerated the evolution of the berm profiles toward equilibrium. As compared to the measured nearshore waves by this study, CMS-Wave accurately propagated the WIS Hindcast waves. SBEACH accurately captured the maximum water elevation, consistent with measured upper limit of morphology change. The model correctly predicted beach and nearshore erosion during the storms. The growth of the storm berm at the Perdido Key swash-zone nourishment was predicted reasonably well by the SBEACH model. However, the magnitudes of the storm-induced erosion and the locations of the offshore bar were not accurately predicted consistently.

Multiple scales of beach morphodynamic processes ranging from those of wave-breaking induced turbulence, individual wave, storm, seasonal, to inter-annual are examined in this dissertation based on both laboratory and field data. These processes were simulated using process-based numerical models and data-driven models. At a microscale, separating turbulence from orbital motion under breaking waves in the surf zone is essential to understanding wave-energy dissipation. Velocity data under monochromatic and random waves in the large-scale sediment transport facility (LSTF) were analyzed. Moving averaging provides a simple method for extracting turbulence from velocity measurements under random breaking waves collected at a reasonably high frequency. Various moving averaging time intervals were examined. An optimum moving averaging interval of approximately 30° to 42° phase angle (relative to peak wave period) allows a reasonable extraction of turbulence. An adaptive moving averaging with variable averaging time at wave crest and trough are proposed to improve the effect of turbulence extraction. At a mesoscale, hydrodynamic conditions associated with onshore migration of a sandbar and the subsequent equilibrium state of a stable bar were examined in the LSTF. Wave and near bottom velocity across the surf zone were measured during the onshore sandbar migration. The near-bottom velocity skewness indicates that before the sandbar reached equilibrium, the velocity was skewed offshore in the nearshore region, and skewed onshore seaward of the bar. The velocity skewness pattern reversed when the beach profile reached equilibrium and the sandbar became stable. The peak onshore directed acceleration was greater than the peak offshore directed acceleration throughout the surf zone during the periods of both onshore migrating and stable sandbar. The macroscale portion of the study examines the beach processes, particularly the morphodynamics of nearshore bar, at storm and seasonal scales. The bar height and bar position were extracted from bimonthly surveyed beach-profiles spaced at 300 m along the 22-km long Sand Key barrier island, West-Central Florida from October 2010 to August 2015. Seasonal beach cycle in the study area is illustrated by onshore sandbar migration during the summer and offshore sandbar migration during the winter, while subaerial beach remains rather stable. Alongshore variations of onshore and offshore sandbar migration were observed over storm events. The water depth over the pre-storm sandbar crest, or the bar crest elevation, is a major factor controlling the onshore or offshore sandbar movement. The offshore moving sandbar tends to have a shallower pre-storm bar crest, while the onshore moving sandbar tends to have a deeper pre-storm bar crest. A dynamic equilibrium bar height of 0.5 m for the study area was identified. The sandbar tends to evolve toward this equilibrium height during the seasonal cycle. The energetic conditions associated with Tropical Storm Debby caused a deviation from the above dynamic equilibrium conditions. The sandbar at most of the profile locations became higher than the pre-storm bar height regardless of the initial height of being greater or less than 0.5 m. After the storm, the higher and shallower bar experienced substantial erosion, the eroded sand was deposited in the trough landward. This resulted in a lower sandbar height, returning to the dynamic equilibrium height of 0.5 m. The Unibest-TC model (Walstra et al., 2012) is able to capture the measured trend of bar migration. The Modelling results suggest that offshore bar migration is dominated by suspended sediment transport. While onshore bar migration is driven mainly by bedload transport. At megascale, a data-driven model was developed to predict beach-profile evolution at multiple-annual scale. Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis was conducted on a time-series beach profile (R61) to identify temporal and spatial trends. Trends in the temporal EOF are modeled using a simple curve fitting. In this case, logarithmic and linear trends were identified. After the trend in temporal EOF values are identified, the curve fitting can be calibrated with 14-month data. The calibrated temporal EOF curve yielded accurate reproduction of profiles. The close examination of multiple scales of beach processes provides a comprehensive understanding of nearshore morphodynamics.

Cross-shore bathymetric evolution in the nearshore zone often leads to threatening consequences such as beach erosion and shoreline retreat that concern the coastal community. A new, comprehensive cross-shore morphodynamic model was developed that can be used to describe and predict these phenomena. The study included both physical and numerical models that were designed to focus on the influence of sediment size characteristics on the cross-shore sediment transport process. For a profile equilibrium timescale, three types of beach profiles with different sediment mixtures were simulated in a small-scale, random-wave flume laboratory using erosive, storm, and accretive wave conditions. Dynamic relationships between the sediment grain sorting and beach profile changes were found to be evident as size-graded sediment fractions tended to relocate to different energetic zones along the cross-shore profiles. Existing phase-averaged wave and circulation models were utilized together with several new intra-wave modules for predicting important hydrodynamic parameters that were validated using the experimental data. A novel, multi-size sediment transport model was formulated to compute individual transport rates of size-graded sediment fractions while accounting for their interaction and non-linear size dependencies. The model was coupled with a new grain sorting model that resolves cross-shore grain sorting and vertical grain lamination. Compared to a traditional modeling approach, the new comprehensive model proved to offer superior modeling accuracy for both profile evolution and sediment grain size change. The use of the model is most advantageous for a condition with intensive grain sorting, a common scenario on a natural beach profile. Equilibrium beach profile is also better simulated by the model as size-graded fractions are predicted to relocate to different zones where they could withstand local hydrodynamics. Other new components that also help improve the modeling capability include the terms for wave-breaking and bed-slope effects, wave-crest sediment flux, and acceleration-induced bottom-shear stress. Besides superior profile modeling accuracy, sediment size characteristics and their spatial and temporal variations are also a useful set of information provided by the new model.

<p> The prime objective is to define and characterize the various coastal environments in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The research, Hhich utilizes both secondary source information and actual field observations, takes into account coastal morphology, beach profile, sediment types, sea ice conditions, tidal range, depth of the frost table and wave energy. From a total of twelve coastal divisions based on the criteria of coastal morphology, tidal conditions and length of open water season, five have been chosen as t he basic coastal environ ments of the Arctic Archipelago. They are as follows: the Arctic Coastal Plain, the Ice Shelf, the Fiord environment, the High Straight coastal environment, and the Ridge and Valley coastal environment. Field observations within the last three environments provided additional evidence for the divisions and observations on the beach and nearshore characteristics at five selected locations. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Wave energy has a great potential in many coastal areas thanks to a number of advantages: the abundant resource, the highest energy density of all renewables, the greater availability factors than e.g. wind or solar energy; and the low environmental and particularly visual impact. In addition, a novel advantage will be investigated in this work: the possibility of a synergetic use for carbon-free energy production and coastal protection. In this context, wave energy can contribute not only to decarbonising the energy supply and reducing greenhouse emissions, but also to mitigating coastal erosion. In effect, wave farms will be deployed nearshore to generate electricity from wave energy, and therefore the leeward coast will be exposed to a milder wave climate, which can potentially mitigate coastal erosion. This thesis aims to determine the effectiveness of wave farms for combating coastal erosion by means of a suite of state-of-the-art process-based numerical models that are applied in several case studies (Perranporth Beach,UK; and Xago Beach, Spain) and at different time scales (from the short-term to the long-term). A wave propagation model, SWAN, is used to establish the effects of the wave farm on the wave conditions. The outcomes of SWAN will be coupled to XBeach, a costal processes model that is applied to analyse the effects of the milder wave conditions on the coast. In addition to these models, empirical classifications and analytical solutions are used as well to characterise the alteration of the beach morphology due to the presence of a wave farm. The analysis of the wave farm impacts on the wave conditions and the beach morphology will be carried out through a set of ad hoc impact indicators. Parameters such as the reduction in the significant wave height, the performance of the wave farm, the effects on the seabed level and the erosion in the beach face area are defined to characterise these impacts. Moreover, the role played by the key design parameters of wave farms, e.g. farm-to-coast distance or layout, is also examined. The results from this analysis demonstrate that wave farms, in addition to their main purpose of generating carbon-free energy, are capable of reducing erosion at the coast. Storm-induced erosion is significantly reduced due to the presence of wave farms in the areas most at risk from this phenomenon. However, the effects of wave farms on the coast do not lend themselves to general statements, for they will depend on the wave farm design (WEC type, layout and farm-to-coast distance) and the characteristics of the area in question, as shown in this document for Perranporth and Xago. In summary, this synergy will improve the economic viability of wave farm projects through savings in conventional coastal defence measures, thereby fostering the development of this nascent renewable, reducing greenhouse gas emission and converging towards a more sustainable energy model. Thus, wave energy contributes to mitigating climate change by two means, one acting on the cause, the other on the effect: (i) by bringing down carbon emissions (cause) through its production of renewable energy, and (ii) by reducing coastal erosion (effect).

Les barres sableuses pré-littorales ont un rôle fondamental en morphodynamique des plages soumises à l’action des vagues. Le déséquilibre permanent entre les flux sédimentaires induits vers laplage par les non linéarités des vagues et ceux induits vers le large par le courant de retour gouverne lamigration transversale des barres. Dans cette thèse, un nouveau modèle morphodynamique de profilde plage intégrant l’état de l’art des processus hydro-sédimentaires a été développé. Le faible coûten temps de calcul de ce modèle permet de réaliser des simulations à long terme, O(mois/années),de la morphologie de plages réelles ayant des caractéristiques variées (pente, type de déferlement,granularité). La simulation sur plusieurs jeux de données, de plages réelles et expérimentales, a permisd’identifier la contribution respective des principaux processus hydro-sedimentaires dans la dynamiquede la plage suivant les conditions de houle (e.g. Tempête, temps calme). Ces avancées scientifiques ontété intégrées à un modèle 2DH, ce qui a notamment permis de simuler pour la première fois sur des casacadémiques la formation d’une barre sableuse rectiligne à partir d’une plage parfaitement plane, suiviedu développement de corps sableux tridimensionnels. Ces résultats ouvrent la voie vers l’applicationde ce type de modèle aux plages naturelles soumises à une large variabilité de régimes de houle. / Sandbars are ubiquitous patterns along wave-dominated sandy coastlines and are key elementsin the global evolution of beaches. Cross-shore sandbar migrations are the result of the permanentimbalance between sediment flux driven by wave non-linearity and mean return current. In this thesis,we developed a new process-based beach profile model integrating the recent scientific advancesin term of hydrodynamics and sediment transport developed for beach morphodynamics. The lowcomputing time allows for long-term morphodynamic simulations (O months/years) of natural beachprofiles of diverse characteristics (beach slope, sediment grain size or type of wave breaking). Modelvalidations on several data sets, encompassing natural and experimental beach profile evolutions,highlight the respective contribution of the main hydrodynamic and sediment transport processesinvolved in specific cross-shore sandbar evolution relative to various wave conditions. Finally, all thecross-shore physical processes were integrated in a 2DH morphodynamic model, resulting for the firsttime in the simulation of a quasi-complete down state sequence showing alongshore bar generationwith subsequent spontaneous formation of transverse bar and rip morphology. These very encouragingresults pave the way for using this model to simulate 3-Dimensional evolutions of natural beachesforced by irregular wave conditions

En la Tesis titulada "Análisis y mejoras en la evaluación de diversos términos de los modelos de evolución de playas en escalas de medio plazo" se desarrolla un modelo de evolución de playas de medio-largo plazo y se aplica a zonas de refracción-difracción. La Tesis se divide en tres secciones principales:SECCIÓN 2. Fundamentos y desarrollo del modelo de evolución de medio-largo plazoSe desarrolla y valida con datos de campo el modelo de evolución de playas de medio-largo plazo.SECCIÓN 3. Oleaje en rotura en zonas de refracción-difracción en los modelos de evolución de playasSe propone y valida un método para la determinación de las características del oleaje en rotura en zonas de refracción-difracción.SECCIÓN 4. Perfil de equilibrio en zonas de refracción-difracciónSe deriva una expresión analítica para definir el perfil de equilibrio en zonas de refracción-difracción y se calibra con datos de campo. / In this Thesis entitled "Analysis and improvements in the evaluation of several terms of medium-term beach evolution models" a medium-long term beach evolution model is developed and applied in refraction-diffraction areas. The Thesis is composed of the following main sections:SECTION 2. Fundaments and development of a medium-long term beach evolution modelIn this section a medium-long term beach evolution model is developed and validated based on field data.SECTION 3. Breaking wave characteristics in refraction-diffraction areas for beach evolution modelsIn this section a method to determine the breaking wave characteristics in refraction-diffraction areas is proposed and validated.SECTION 4. Equilibrium beach profile for refraction-diffraction areasIn this section an analytical expression to calculate the equilibrium beach profile for refraction-diffraction areas is derived, being calibrated based on field data.