Intercomparison of wave-driven current models

Seven numerical models which simulate waves and currents in the surf-zone are tested for the case of a reduced-scale detached breakwater subjected to the action of regular waves with normal incidence. The computed wave heights, water levels and velocities are compared with measurements collected in an experimental wave basin. The wave height decay in the surf-zone is predicted reasonably well, Set-up and currents appear to be less well predicted. This intercomparison exercise shows that radiation stresses are systematically overestimated by formulations used in the models, mean bottom shear stresses are not always co-linear with the mean bottom velocity vector in shallow water, and turbulence modelling in the surf-zone requires a sophisticated model. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.