Sand waves

Sand waves

Process-based approach on tidal inlet evolution – Part 1

Published in C. Marjolein Dohmen-Janssen, Suzanne J.M.H. Hulscher, River, Coastal and Estuarine Morphodynamics: RCEM 2007, 2019

D.M.P.K. Dissanayake, J.A. Roelvink

Among the many bedforms occurring in coastal regions characterized by non-cohesive (sandy) deposits, sand waves are undoubtedly one of the most important for human activities. Sand waves typically occur in shallow seas and are induced by tidal currents. The sand waves have wavelengths of the order of hundreds of metres and heights of the order of a few metres and their crests are often almost orthogonal to the direction of the tidal current. Moreover sand waves can migrate when the symmetry of the tidal current is broken (e.g. when a residual current is present).

Near bed flow characteristics over the patch and non-patch zone due to pure wave

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Journal Information

Published in Ships and Offshore Structures, 2023

Subhadeep Sarkar, Koustuv Debnath, Santosh Kumar Singh

The primary goal of the field investigations on ripple structures was to quantify the ripple properties. Several field investigations on ripples were found in the literature. For e.g. Inman (1957) investigated the dimension of ripples measured by divers but was unable to determine if the ripples were in equilibrium at the time of observation. McCave (1971) attempted to link sand waves to environmental factors such as tidal current strength and sediment grain size. According to Trowbridge (1995) and Calvete et al. (2001), sand waves are formed by powerful storms, and their orientation is dependent on the storm’s direction. On the Dutch continental shelf, Knaapen et al. (2005) discovered six different types of offshore bed patterns.

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Process-based approach on tidal inlet evolution – Part 1

Near bed flow characteristics over the patch and non-patch zone due to pure wave