Hydrodynamic modelling of a wave-dominated tidal inlet system: PORT PHILLIP BAY, AUSTRALIA

© 2020 Huy Quang TranTidal inlets are located between open seas and coastal lagoons. They experience complex hydrodynamic patterns owning to the actions of ocean waves and tidal currents - the two main drivers of various coastal processes including sediment transport, shoreline evolution, erosion, inundation and extreme sea levels. Better decision-making, sustainable management and adaptation requires numerical models to predict coastal hydrodynamics to gain a better understanding of how these mechanisms behave and change over time. Especially nowadays, human-induced pressures have been increasingly causing significant disruption to the formerly pristine state of these important coastal systems. However, our existing knowledge and the reliability of existing models are far from adequate. This study aims to provide a better understanding of coastal hydrodynamics, including the impacts of human-induced influences on these fields. The contributions of this research include the implementation of advanced measured-based physical packages (ST6) in a spectral wave model - WWMIII - which provides an important update in terms of predicting water waves focused on coastal regions. This implementation was tested in several water environments before being integrated into a coupled hydrodynamic model system (SCHISM-WWMIII) to study climatology of hydrodynamics at Port Phillip Bay, Australia based on long-term hindcast data. These data were derived from 27-year simulations applied to two bathymetry options: before and after channel deepening at Port Phillip Bay. To this end, these decadal data sets provide a unique opportunity to quantify hydrodynamics and possible impacts due to dredging on these fields in more detail