MODELING LONGSHORE CURRENTS FOR FIELD SITUATIONS

Abstract

There is a growing need for generalized numerical models for longshore currents and nearshore circulation that solve the complete equations of motion, are flexible in the formulations chosen for various terms, and can be applied to field situations at a reasonable cost. The development and application of one such model is described in this paper. The model was first tested by comparing its results to known analytic solutions and experimental data. There was good agreement. It was next applied to a field situation near Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. The results appeared to be reasonable and the computational costs were modest.