DEVELOPMENT OF UNDERWATER BEACH PROFILE BY MONOCHROMATIC AND RANDOM WAVES

Abstract

Central to all problems involving alluvial coasts is the response of the underwater profile to given wave conditions. It has been demonstrated in laboratory tests that a constant wave pattern leads to an equilibrium profile. BRUUN (1954) defined this profile by a parabolic equation and various refinements have been proposed since. Applications to field data show, however, that the fit is frequently less than satisfactory. Noteworthy is also that profiles generated in the large wave flumes tend to have significantly narrower surf zones than similar sand beaches in the nature. To answer this and other questions a series of experiments were carried out in the Large Wave Flume (LWF) in Hannover.