Citation

Rusu E, Soares C. J. Waterw. Port Coast. Ocean Eng. 2010; 136(1): 27-45.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, American Society of Civil Engineers)

DOI

10.1061/(ASCE)WW.1943-5460.0000023

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This paper deals with three coastal applications of a 1D model system to represent the nearshore currents. In these applications, comparisons are made with the predictions from 2D and 3D models and field data. The system evaluated is the ISSM (the Interface for SWAN and Surf Models), which was developed as an attempt to develop a simple and reliable coastal circulation model. The nearshore circulation model SHORECIRC was considered as a reference. It is a quasi-3D model that uses REFDIF as wave driver, and combines a numerical solution for the depth-integrated 2D horizontal momentum balance equations with an analytical solution for the 3D current profiles. Three case studies were considered for comparing the models. The first is a plane beach treated as a 1D problem. The other two applications are 2D problems. The first application had mild bottom contours, while the second was characterized by strong bathymetric irregularities. Comparisons are performed between the results of the two models and with the in situ measurements. It was found that, when the angle between the direction of the wave advance and the normal to the shoreline was less than 15°, the 1D surf models can be used with confidence in coastal applications. For larger angles and more complex bathymetric conditions, 2D and 3D models are required.