Spring‐neap tide‐induced beach water table fluctuations in a sloping coastal aquifer

Abstract

Predictions of water table fluctuations in coastal aquifers are needed for numerous coastal and water resources engineering problems. Most previous investigations have been based on the Boussinesq equation for the case of a vertical beach. In this note an analytical solution based on shallow water expansion for the spring‐neap tide‐induced water table fluctuations in a coastal aquifer is presented. Unlike most previous investigations, multitidal signals are considered with a sloping coastal aquifer. The new solution is verified by comparing with field observations from Ardeer, Scotland. On the basis of the analytical approximation the influences of higher‐order components on water table elevation are examined first. Then, a parametric study has been performed to investigate the effects of the amplitude ratio (?), frequency ratio (?), and phases (d 1 and d 2 ) on the tide‐induced water table fluctuations in a sloping sandy beach.