Author(s): William B. Rauen; Binliang Lin; Fangkai Ma; Roger A. Falconer
Linked Author(s): Binliang Lin, Roger Falconer, William Rauen
Keywords: Computational hydraulics; Sediment transport; Morphology; ECOMSED
Abstract: This study reports on refinements made to a widely used 3-D numerical model, namely ECOMSED, traditionally used for modelling hydrodynamic, sediment and contaminant transport processes in coastal shallow water environments. The model has been enhanced to include bed load sediment transport and the bathymetric feedback concept, which allows for the linkage between the hydrodynamics and predicted morphological changes. These refinements are required to simulate flows with a significant contribution of bed load sediment transport, such as in some rivers and hydraulic models, and where the bathymetric changes occurring during the simulated period are significant compared to the water depth. Results from laboratory morphodynamic experiments were used to verify the numerical model predictions, with significantly improved results being obtained in comparison with the unmodified numerical model predictions. Refined numerical models of this type can be applied to predict 3-D hydrodynamic and morphological processes in rivers, estuaries and the receiving continental shelf, as well as their hydraulic models, including variations in circulation patterns due to bathymetric changes, formation and migration of large scale bed forms and the variation of erosion and deposition rates in response to a changing physical boundary.
Year: 2009