Numerical study of the flow structure at a swash tip propagating over a rough bed

Abstract

Understanding the boundary layer flow structure at the tip of a swash flow is important for improving predictions of wave run-up, coastal flooding and sediment transport processes on beaches, but this is difficult to investigate experimentally. Recently, there has been debate regarding the mechanics of boundary layer growth during the uprush flow. Here, an extensively validated RANS model is used to investigate the swash tip dynamics during a dam-break driven swash event. The model enables the analysis of the spatial and temporal variation of important parameters, in particular the water surface gradients, the bed shear stress, and the non-uniformity of the velocity profile. The rate of flow convergence of surface particles toward the tip, and the ratio of the depth-averaged flow velocity and celerity of the swash tip are also obtained. The flow depth varies with distance behind the wave tip approximately as a power law, with a power of 1/2–3/4. The surface elevation dips offshore at distances greater than 0.2 m behind the front. The shear stress decreases quite slowly in the spatial region immediately behind the wave tip, and is in very good agreement with the flat-plate boundary layer model of Barnes and Baldock (2010). The model results indicate that the boundary layer structure is well-developed or depth-limited at the wave tip, and fits a power-law velocity profile with an exponent of order 1/3, consistent with a rough bed. The normalised vertical variation in the velocity profile is very uniform in the region 1 m behind the wave tip, and matches that for a 1/3 power law. Alternate logarithmic fits to the velocity profile yield consistent values of bed roughness at different locations, but corresponding to a grain size that is about twice that used in the experiment. The rate of flow convergence of surface particles toward the wave tip is also consistent with a fully developed boundary layer and a 1/3 power law.