Ali Marjani, North Carolina State University
Rip current generation on a beach varying slope
Abstract:
Rip currents are jet-like, offshore directed, flows that originate within the surfzone. They can strongly influence onshore and offshore transport of sediments and exchanges of waters. A previous study (Yu, 2006) has shown that rip currents can be initiated on a planar beach by an instability arising from waves interacting with evolving currents. In this study, we extend the linear instability analysis in Yu (2006) to a beach of varying slope, which resembles the base profile of a typical barred beach. Normally incident waves are considered. While the instability is qualitatively similar to that on a planar beach, there are significant quantitative differences.
This work is supported by National Science Foundation (Grant CBET-0756271).
Mentor: Jie Yu (North Carolina State University)