Wave set-up, wave run-up and beach water table: Interaction between surf zone hydraulics and groundwater hydraulics

Abstract

The relationship between wave set-up, wave run-up and beach water table is reviewed, starting from the work and ideas of Nielsen and using laboratory observations of wave set-up and beach water table in beaches formed from various beach materials under similar wave conditions. A new more extensive analysis of wave set-up on impermeable fixed plane beaches has been made using all available experimental data. Scaling parameters for set-up and water depth, based upon both deep water and breaking wave conditions and incorporating appropriate forms of the surf similarity parameter, are developed. The dimensionless set-up parameters are of the form ( ƞ− ƞ b ) H 0 ξ 0 n where 0.3 < n < 0.5 for deep water wave parameters and ( ƞ− ƞ b ) H b ( tan α)I b n where n ≈ 0.4 for breaking wave conditions. ξ 0 = ( tan α) H O L O and I b = H b 1 2 g 1 2 T tan α