WAVE BOTTOM LAYERS DYNAMIC WITH SUSPENDED SEDIMENT OVER VORTEX RIPPLES

Vortex ripple is widely formed in the coastal region, and the dynamic of vortex is quite important because it is responsible for sediment transport. The flow structure around the vortex ripples can be modeled as 2D flow due to the geometry of the flow boundaries. In this paper, 2D Large-Eddy-Simulation (LES) method was used to predict the flow structure and the dynamic of vortex in the bottom layers under the action of the wave, the numerical simulation results show a completely process of vortex formation, evolvement and disappearance. Based on the study of flow structure, the suspended sediment transport was modeled in present paper. The simulated sediment concentrations were compared to measurements from the literature. The agreement between the time averaged simulated concentration profiles and measurements is satisfactory. For a high setting velocity, the suspended sediment is confined to the vicinity of the bed, and it is dominated by the local bottom shear stress. For a small setting velocity, the suspension is more dominated by the characteristic of vortex. There are two suspended sediment transport peaks observed in the cross-section at the trough and crest in the half period, the second peak is due to the separation bubble taking the sediment.