BEACH PROFILE FORMATION IN THE VICINITY OF SEAWALLS UNDER THE IMPACTS OF BREAKING WAVES

Wave induced hydrodynamics within the near shore region; sediment transport and the subsequent evolution of beaches under wave attack are important elements governing the stability of the coastal structures. Based on surf zone hydrodynamics, several efforts have been made to estimate the sediment transport and beach profile formation during storm conditions. Although there are advanced models of surf zone hydrodynamics for natural beaches, the behavior of the beaches in front of reflective structures (i.e. seawalls) under breaking waves still suffers from the lack of appropriate theoretical models and measured data. In order to consider the effect of reflective structures on beach profile evolution, experiments have been performed at laboratory model scale on a reflective seawall located in the surf zone. In this paper, the measurement data has been analyzed with Buckingham theory and certain equations have been derived the results obtained from utilizing the equations have been compared with the experimental data. For the cases simulated, the reflected waves have been found to have a great effect on the beach profile development. The results obtained from the experiments show a strong dependency of the surf zone hydrodynamics and beach profile formation on the location of the structure and the breaking point near the shoreline.