Prediction of Alongshore Transport of Cobbles on Open-Coast Composite Beaches and Dynamic Cobble Berm Revetments
摘要
Composite beaches, which consist of a sandy foreshore and steep cobble backshore berm, are a natural analog to dynamic revetments, a potential engineered option for nature-based erosion mitigation. Information about alongshore transport is critical for predicting the performance of these structures. However, the different drivers of alongshore sediment transport on composite beaches are not fully understood, and predictive capability for alongshore cobble transport is currently lacking. Here, we tracked 300 cobbles for the winter season on two different composite beaches and a dynamic cobble berm revetment. The average total alongshore transport distance increased as the number of hours waves interacted with the cobble berm increased. There was also an elevation above which the cobble transport distance was no longer significant. Additionally, in contrast to some previous studies, we found no relationship between either mass or sphericity and transport distance of the cobble. Results indicate that accounting for wave interaction time with the cobble berm is critical for predictions of alongshore transport of cobble on composite beaches.