Abstract
In this paper we propose a three-dimensional numerical study of the coastal currents produced by the wave motion in the area opposite the Cetraro harbour (Italy), during the most significant wave event for the coastal sediment transport. The aim of the present study is the characterization of the current patterns responsible for the siltation that affects the harbour entrance area and the assessment of a project solution designed to limit this phenomenon. The numerical simulations are carried out by a three-dimensional non-hydrostatic model that is based on the Navier–Stokes equations expressed in integral and contravariant form on a time-dependent curvilinear coordinate system, in which the vertical coordinate moves in order to follow the free surface variations. The numerical simulations are carried out in two different geometric configurations: a present configuration, that reproduces the geometry of the coastal defence structures currently present in the harbour area and a project configuration, which reproduces the presence of a breakwater designed to modify the coastal currents in the area opposite the harbour entrance.
Highlights
The Cetraro harbour is located in the Tyrrhenian coast of southern Italy, in a natural inlet protected by an artificial breakwater directed parallel to the coastline, approximately from North-West toSouth-East
In [1], the numerical simulations of the coastal currents, produced by the above-mentioned incoming waves in the coastal area opposite the Cetraro harbour, were carried out by a horizontal two-dimensional numerical model which is based on depth-averaged governing equations
In [1] the simulation of the wave propagation from the deep-water region to the start of the surf zone is obtained by numerically integrating the Boussinesq equations [3], while in the surf and swash zone by the Nonlinear Shallow Water Equations [4,5,6]
Summary
The Cetraro harbour is located in the Tyrrhenian coast of southern Italy, in a natural inlet protected by an artificial breakwater directed parallel to the coastline, approximately from North-West toSouth-East. As underlined by several authors [7,8,9], in those models the presence of the dispersive terms of the Boussinesq equations allows to maintain the wave form in deep water but prevents the numerical schemes to converge to the correct solution in the surf zone, where the breaking waves exhibit steeper wave fronts.
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