Suspended and bedload transport in the surf zone: implications for sand transport models

This paper presents results obtained during a large-scale wave flume experiment focused at measuring hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes in the wave breaking region. The experiment involved monochromatic plunging breaking waves over a mobile bed barred profile consisting of D50 = 0.24 mm sand. Vertical profiles of velocity, turbulence, sand concentration and sand fluxes were measured at 12 cross-shore locations, covering the shoaling region up to the inner surf zone. Particularly high-resolution profiles were obtained near the bed within the wave bottom boundary layer, using an acoustic sediment concentration and velocity profiler (ACVP). Sheet flow concentration and particle velocities were measured at two locations near the bar crest using two conductivity-based concentration measurement tanks (CCM+). Total transport rates, obtained from the evolving bed profile measurements, were decomposed into suspended and bedload transport contributions across the bar. The present paper presents a summary of the key findings of the experiment, which are used to discuss existing approaches for modeling suspended and bed load transport in the surf zone