hydrodynamics of the nearshore文档.pdf

Hydrodynamics of the Nearshore Robert A. Dalrymple and James T. Kirby Center for Applied Coastal Research University of Delaware Newark, DE 19716 phone: (302) 831-2440 fax:(302) 831 1228 email: rad@udel.edu Award #: N00014-98-1-0521 LONG-TERM GOAL The goal of this project is to predict the wave-induced nearshore circulation and the low frequency motions that exist near shorelines. Two aspects of this hydrodynamic system are of particular interest : rip currents on barred shorelines and the analysis of edge wave and shear wave motions. OBJECTIVES To determine the mechanisms for the generation of rip currents on a shoreline with sand bars and rip channels. To discover the reasons that rip currents are unstable in position and in time. To develop a framework for analyzing the spatial and temporal structure of shear waves and other unstable wave-induced flows in the nearshore zone. To construct a dynamical model for the coupling and evolution of the spatial modes of the flow field, and to compare the low-order dynamical framework to a weakly nonlinear formulation based on three-wave coupling of shear wave and edge wave modes, as determined from linear theory. APPROACH For the rip current problem, laboratory measurements in a 20 m x 20m directional wave basin have been conducted. Wave height and horizontal velocities were measured over the whole basin. Mean flows and water level set-up was obtained by averaging the data. To augment the laboratory data, a theoretical/numerical model for the flow instability of rip currents has been developed. The model examines the instability of the rip current by treating it as a jet, subjected to an increasing water depth. The instabilities are due to the shear in the jet, much as in a shear wave. For