Sand Dunes in Steady Flow at Low Froude Numbers: Dune Height Evolution and Flow Resistance
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 1
Abstract
The development of sand dunes in an erodible bed exposed to flowing water is considered using a numerical flow model. The bed is initially given a small perturbation, which is followed in the time domain. Examples are given where a sinusoidal perturbation reaches the fully developed steady equilibrium shape. The flow modeling is based on a turbulence closure. The sediment transport is assumed to be bed-load only, with an avalanche-like movement on the steep dune front. The model is also found capable of predicting the growth in wavelength if the initially prescribed wavelength is sufficiently short. Results of the dune development are presented for different initial wavelengths. It is demonstrated that an equilibrium shape is developed for a range of wavelength-depth ratios as long as this ratio is sufficiently small.
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Acknowledgments
The study was partly supported by the European Commission under the project “Human Interaction with Large Scale Coastal Morphological Evolution (HUMOR),” Grant No. UNSPECIFIEDEVK3-CT-2000-00037, by the Danish Technical Research Council (STVF) by the program “Coasts and Tidal Inlets,” Grant No. UNSPECIFIED26-00-0144, and by the Danish Council for Strategic Research by the program “Seabed wind farm interaction,” Grant No. UNSPECIFIED2104-07-0010. Julio Zyserman, DHI, has kindly provided the analyzed data from the Fort Collins experiments.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 1 • January 2011
Pages: 5 - 14
Copyright
© 2011 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 12, 2007
Accepted: Apr 5, 2010
Published online: Aug 31, 2010
Published in print: Jan 2011
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