Modelling sediment transport processes in macro-tidal estuary

This paper outlines a numerical modeling study to predict the sediment transport processes in a macro-tidal estuary, namely the Mersey Estuary, UK. An integrated numerical model study is conducted to investigate the interaction between the hydrodynamic, morphological and sediment transport processes occurring in the estuary. The numerical model widely used in environmental sediment transport studies worldwide, namely ECOMSED is used to simulate flow and sediment transport in estuary. A wetting and drying scheme is proposed and applied to the model, which defines "dry" cells as regions with a thin film of fluid O (cm). The primitive equations are solved in the thin film as well as in other regular wet cells. A model for the bed load transport is included in the code to account for the dynamics of the mobile bed boundary. The bed evolution due to bed load transport which is calculated according to van Rijn (1984a) is obtained by solving the sediment mass-balance equation. An estuary-related laboratory flume experiment is used to verify the model. Six sets of field measured hydrodynamic data are used to verify the corresponding predictions of the model, with the model-predicted water elevations and salinity levels generally agreeing well with the field measurements. The numerical model results show that in the Mersey Estuary both the tidal level and river discharge affect significantly the sediment transport. Reasonable agreement between the model results and field data has been obtained, indicating that the model can be used as computer-based tool for the environment management of estuarine system.