Wave Run-Up on a Natural Beach

Abstract

The swash oscillation, waves and water particle velocity in the surf zone were measured by using 16 mm memo-motion cameras and electromagnetic current meters. It was inferred that incident waves form two-dimensional standing waves with the anti-node in the swash slope. Separation of the incident waves and reflected waves was attempted with good results using small amplitude long wave theory. Reflection coefficient of individual waves ranged between 0.3 and 1.0. The joint distribution of wave heights and periods in the swash oscillation exhibited different distribution from that in and outside the surf zone. This indicates that simple application of wave to wave transformation model fails in the swash zone.