LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS ON 3-D NEARSHORE CURRENT AND A MODEL WITH MOMENTUM FLUX BY BREAKING WAVES

Abstract

Laboratory experiments are performed in a wave basin to investigate the characteristics of three dimensional distribution of the nearshore current. Direction and amplitude of the nearshore current significantly change along the vertical axis and have spiral distribution. A quasi 3-D model which gives the 3-D distribution of nearshore current is proposed. Momentum flux due to the large vortexes formed on the front face of breaking waves is included in the model to evaluate the depth averaged current. The model is examined with the experimental results.