Modeling Shoreline Response to a Submerged Breakwater at Anmok Beach in Korea with Single Line Theory

Abstract

Since a submerged breakwater (SBW) was built and the beach was nourished at Anmok in the east coast of Republic of Korea at October, 2014, the shoreline in the lee of the SBW has accreted about 25 m during the first seven months after construction. The shoreline evolution showed two distinct patterns which were studied in this paper. A strong local accretion behind the submerged breakwater was observed in March 2015 and a smoother shoreline with accretion that extended up to Gangneung Harbor breakwater in May 2015. The UNIBEST coastline model (developed at Delft Hydraulics) was applied for the investigation of the observed shoreline undulation patterns which were generated by alongshore sediment transport gradients that were induced by the SBW and nourishment. Nearshore wave conditions were computed for this purpose at nine locations in the nearshore with the Delft3D-wave model. Two detailed wave scenarios with different crest height of the SBW were taken into account to represent the transmission of waves at the SBW which were validated with field measurements. The coastline model is able to reproduce the observed shoreline evolution patterns when wave transmission at the SBW is represented well, which is the case for a wave scenario with a lowered effective crest level of the SBW. Initially, accretion takes place predominantly at the northern side of the scheme, which was similar to the observed shoreline shape of the March 2015 situation. This local accretion is a result of the low sediment transport capacity behind the SBW due to sheltering of the wave energy, which initially hinders the redistribution of sediment to the South (i.e. area in-between Gangneung Harbor and SBW). After some months, a redistribution of sediment will take place behind the SBW which results in a smoother shoreline pattern which is similar to the May 2015 situation. The rate of change of the shoreline accretion is controlled by the absolute transport rates at the coast (i.e. wave energy), but is often of lesser importance since an adjustment towards a new shoreline equilibrium may take place within relatively short time scales (i.e. months to a few years). In addition to the wave energy, it was found that the relative angle of the incoming waves (α) is most relevant for the final shoreline shape. The shoreline evolution at future SWB structures may therefore be predicted by precisely estimating the α directly after construction of the SBW.