Storm-Induced Deformations of a Barred Beach Slope

Abstract

It is shown that behavior of a multiple-bar system during a storm can be described with a model assuming that bars move toward the sea at almost the same mean rate, while the depths over the bars increase in accordance with the local bed slope. Analysis of the suspended-sediment balance over the bar crest yields an expression for the bar movement rate, which demonstrates a very strong dependence on the ratio of wave height to depth above the bar crest. When the empirical criterion of bar activity [11] is used, the proposed model can assess bar displacement during storm impact and predict the poststorm bed profile. Comparison with published field data leads to the conclusion that the computed and observed storm-induced deformations of barred beach slopes are satisfactorily consistent.