The Effect of Wave Breaking on Surf-Zone Turbulence and Alongshore Currents: A Modeling Study*

TLDR

Breaking‑wave‑generated turbulence’s impact on surf‑zone circulation, turbulence, and bottom stress is poorly understood. The authors develop a one‑dimensional vertical coupled turbulence (k–ε) and mean‑flow model that incorporates time‑dependent surface turbulence fluxes from wave breaking using published closures. The model couples vertical turbulence with mean flow, applies wave‑breaking–induced surface fluxes, relies on existing closures, and uses no parameter tuning. The model qualitatively reproduces observed surf‑zone dissipation and alongshore currents, shows that wave breaking reduces vertical shear so bottom stress cannot be inferred from a logarithmic current profile, and indicates that drag coefficients depend on bed roughness and water depth (likely via wave breaking), with bed roughness and breaking‑wave energy having comparable influence on currents.

Abstract

Abstract The effect of breaking-wave-generated turbulence on the mean circulation, turbulence, and bottom stress in the surf zone is poorly understood. A one-dimensional vertical coupled turbulence (k–ɛ) and mean-flow model is developed that incorporates the effect of wave breaking with a time-dependent surface turbulence flux and uses existing (published) model closures. No model parameters are tuned to optimize model–data agreement. The model qualitatively reproduces the mean dissipation and production during the most energetic breaking-wave conditions in 4.5-m water depth off of a sandy beach and slightly underpredicts the mean alongshore current. By modeling a cross-shore transect case example from the Duck94 field experiment, the observed surf-zone dissipation depth scaling and the observed mean alongshore current (although slightly underpredicted) are generally reproduced. Wave breaking significantly reduces the modeled vertical shear, suggesting that surf-zone bottom stress cannot be estimated by fitting a logarithmic current profile to alongshore current observations. Model-inferred drag coefficients follow parameterizations (Manning–Strickler) that depend on the bed roughness and inversely on the water depth, although the inverse depth dependence is likely a proxy for some other effect such as wave breaking. Variations in the bed roughness and the percentage of breaking-wave energy entering the water column have a comparable effect on the mean alongshore current and drag coefficient. However, covarying the wave height, forcing, and dissipation and bed roughness separately results in an alongshore current (drag coefficient) only weakly (strongly) dependent on the bed roughness because of the competing effects of increased turbulence, wave forcing, and orbital wave velocities.