The offshore North Sea houses many human activities such as offshore wind farms, gas platforms and network cables. Closer to the coast is the nearshore zone that facilitates functions and values such as flood protection, recreation and nature. Between those areas lies the lower shoreface, a relatively flat and sandy area between 8 and 20m deep, that influences how these offshore human interferences affect the nearshore zone (van der Spek, 2022). 
Sand transport on the lower shoreface mainly depends on waves, tides and density effects, but the contribution of infragravity waves to sand transport on the lower shoreface is often not taken into account. Though infragravity wave heights are in the order of centimeters, the long wave periods (20s to 200s) can cause the orbital velocities to penetrate deeper into the water column and initiate sand transport in the shallower parts of the lower shoreface (van Rijn, 1997).
In this project, you will study how infragravity waves affect sand transport on the Dutch lower shoreface. In order to do this, you will make use of XBeach: a two-dimensional nearshore model for wave propagation, long waves, sediment transport and many other functionalities. You will model several areas along the Dutch lower shoreface to quantify and explain spatial and temporal variability of lower shoreface sand transport due to infragravity waves.
References
- van Rijn, L. C. (1997). Sediment transport and budget of the central coastal zone of Holland. Coastal Engineering, 32(1), 61-90. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-3839(97)00021-5
- van der Spek, A., van der Werf, J., Oost, A., Vermaas, T., Grasmeijer, B., & Schrijvershof, R. (2022). The lower shoreface of the Dutch coast–An overview. Ocean & Coastal Management, 230, 106367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2022.106367
Supervision
Are you interested in this assignment? Contact the Master thesis coordinator.
