Wave–current interaction in a river and wave dominant estuary: A seasonal contrast

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThe dynamic feature of the Modaomen Estuary (ME) in the Pearl River Delta in southern China has been the subject of extensive research. In previous studies, wave-current interaction (WCI) was often neglected due to its complexity. This study uses a coupled hydrodynamic module TELEMAC-2D and wave propagation module TOMAWAC in the TELEMAC-Mascaret modeling system to quantify the effects of WCI on the hydrodynamics in the ME. The coupled wave and current modeling system was well validated against the field measurements at selected locations. The model results show that WCI varies with the seasonal change in runoff in the ME. The effect of waves on the currents is insignificant during the wet season with a current change of no more than 0.07 m/s; but, in contrast, the currents have a noticeable effect on waves. However, during the dry season, the interactions of waves and currents on each other are found to be equally significant. When wave model and current model are coupled, the velocity could increase up to a maximum of 0.30 m/s and decrease up to a maximum of 0.17 m/s. WCI is greatly affected by the propagation directions of wave and current in both seasons. Generally, wave height decreases and current increases for a following wave and current; wave height increases and current decreases for an opposing wave and current. The effects of waves on currents change with the tide. Changes are larger during neap tide than during spring tide, and stronger during ebb tide than during flood tide.

Wave Effects on Sediment Transport and Entrapment in a Channel‐Shoal Estuary: The Pearl River Estuary in the Dry Winter Season

“…However, previous studies seldom considered waves when studying the sediment dynamics in the PRE. Given the reality of stronger winds, larger waves (Gong, Lin, Chen, Chen, Shen, et al, 2018;Jia et al, 2015), and reduced freshwater discharge in winter, a failure to consider waves could cause underestimations of bed change, SSC, and sediment flux in the PRE. Thus, unlike previous studies, we incorporated waves into our model, and our results have therefore provided more insights into the transport and fate of sediment in dry winters in the PRE.…”

The influence of waves on the tidal kinetic energy resource at a tidal stream energy site

“…Nevertheless, whereas numerous numerical investigations have focused on the effects of waves on near-bottom tidal currents to improve predictions of hydrodynamic components and associated transport of sediment, temperature and salinity [18,19,20], little effort has been devoted to wave-induced variations of available tidal kinetic energy resource. In the field of marine renewable energy, much more effort has been invested in characterising fatigue and loading induced by waves upon devices, focusing on potential failure and reduced performance [21,22,23,24] or investigating the effect of tidal currents on wave power [25,26,27].…”

High-resolution wave and hydrodynamics modelling in coastal areas: operational applications for coastal planning, decision support and assessment

“…Their models have been separately evaluated and validated for several case studies. Regarding TELEMAC, exemplary reference can be made to the work of Brière et al (2007) on assessing its performance for a hydrodynamic case study; Brown and Davies (2009), Luo et al (2013) and Villaret et al (2013) on coupled wave/hydrodynamics-sediment transport/morphological modelling; Sauvaget et al (2000) on the modelling of tidal currents; and Jia et al (2015) on wavecurrent interactions in a river-and wave-dominant estuary. Regarding MIKE21, respective literature review would include the work of Siegle et al (2007) and Ranasinghe et al (2010) on coupled wave/hydrodynamics-sediment transport/morphological modelling, Babu et al (2005) on the modelling of tide-driven currents, Kong (2014) on the impact of tidal waves on storm surge and Aboobacker et al (2009) and ArıGüner et al (2013) on wave modelling.…”