Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	EP/H026894/1
Title:	Beach morphological response to surface and subsurface flows: measurement and modelling
Principal Investigator:	Horn, Dr DP
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Geography, Environment & Development Stu
Organisation:	Birkbeck College
Scheme:	Overseas Travel Grants (OTGS)
Starts:	01 November 2009	Ends:	28 February 2010	Value (£):	6,148
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Coastal & Waterway Engineering
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Environment
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
The purpose of the visit is to partipate in a field experiment in Australia with the Coastal Engineering Research Group at the University of Queensland in order to collect a high-quality data set which can be used to validate numerical models which simulate short-term beach profile evolution and long-term coastal change. In particular, the research will focus on validation of the swash and groundwater components of the models in order to improve understanding of the relationships between swash motions, beach groundwater flows and beach morphological change. The swash zone is the part of the beach alternately covered and exposed by wave uprush and backwash, where final wave energy dissipation occurs. Although this region above the still water level is perhaps the most critical in terms of shoreline management, it is the area of the nearshore environment about which least is known and is a difficult part of the beach to measure and model. The swash zone is highly dynamic and influences the morphological response of beaches over both short (i.e. storm) durations and longer time-scales. Erosion and accretion of the beach profile, and the resulting movement of the position of the shoreline, are a direct result of sediment transport processes occurring in the swash zone. The interaction of surface and subsurface flow regimes in the swash zone affects the morphology of the intertidal beach by controlling the potential for onshore sediment transport and deposition above the still water level, or transport offshore to the inner surf zone, and swash zone processes provide an important control on beach recovery in response to storms. However, the complex fluid and sediment interactions in the swash zone are not well understood or modelled. At present, most numerical models of shoreline change and beach morphological evolution either do not include sediment transport processes in the swash zone or simplify the representation of swash and groundwater processes to the extent that the predictions are not realistic. This failure to model the swash zone correctly means that beach profile evolution and sediment transport at the shoreline will not be adequately represented. In particular, models of beach profile evolution are not generally successful in predicting beach accretion. Since an accretionary event is defined by the deposition of sediment above mean sea level, the lack of detailed knowledge of swash and beach groundwater dynamics is an important factor in the inability of profile models to simulate accretionary events accurately. The limitations of swash zone modelling represents a particular problem in long-term coastal modelling, where coastal change is simulated over the timescale of years or longer. Swash processes are even less likely to be represented adequately in such models. When process details are not well understood, uncertainty is amplified as the number of variables and dimensions increase and as small-scale processes are integrated up to larger scales in both space and time. As a result, predictions of the long term response of the coastline to changes in environmental conditions must be viewed with caution. However, time spans of decades and lengths of coastline in the order of tens of kilometres are the scales at which coastal managers must take decisions, and there is a need to improve the representation of swash processes in such models.
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