NUMERICAL MODELING OF SUSPENDED SEDIMENT FLUXES IN ESTUARINE WATERS

A two-dimensional finite difference numerical model, capable of predicting depth-averaged tidal flow fields in coastal and estuarine waters, has been extended to include tide-induced non-cohesive sediment transport processes. The partial differential equations governing the conservation of mass, momentum and suspended sediment in an incompressible turbulent flow are included in a depth-integrated form in the model. For the representation of the processes of erosion and deposition of sediment from the bed an empirically based source-sink term was refined, based on the results of three mobile bed flume studies. The model has been tested by simulating tidal flows and suspended sediment fluxes in two estuaries, with particular application to the Humber estuary in the U.K. The model was calibrated and found to produce an encouraging degree of agreement between the numerical predictions and corresponding field measurements for this estuary. Furthermore, the predicted gross deposition and erosion features of the estuary were found to be in close agreement with interpretations from Eulerian tidal residual predictions. © 1990.