Coastal Education & Research Foundation, Inc.

Modeling of Sediment Transport in a Coral Reef Environment

Author(s): J.L. Lee, M.H. Teng and I.N. Kang
Source: Journal of Coastal Research, SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 42. The Sun, Earth and Moon
(SPRING 2005), pp. 303-308
Published by: Coastal Education & Research Foundation, Inc.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25736996
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 Journal of Coastal Research SI 42 303-308 West Palm Beach, Florida Spring 2005

Modeling of Sediment Transport in a Coral Reef

Environment
J.L. Leef, M.H. Teng$, and I.N. Rang00

tDepartment of Civil and ^Department of Civil and ??Department of Construction

Environmental Engineering Environmental Engineering and Transportation
Sungkyunkwan University University of Hawaii at Engineering
Suwon 440-746, Korea Manoa Ajou University
jllee@skku.edu Honolulu, HI 96822, U.S.A. Suwon 440-713, Korea

ABSTRACT

MM!!:.
LEE, J.L.; TENG, M.H. and FCANG, I.N., 2005. Modeling of sediment transport in a coral reef environment. Journal
of Coastal Research, SI(42), 303-308. West Palm Beach (Florida). ISSN 0749-0208.

In this study, we present a numerical model for predicting sediment transport and the associated erosion and depo
sition processes in a natural reef area. The prediction system consists of several modules. The first is a wave trans
formation model that predicts the change in wave height and direction from deep water to shallow coastal water. The
second is a phase-averaged shallow water model for predicting wave-induced current in coastal water. The radiation
stress in the second module is calculated by using the results on waves from the first module. The third is a sediment
transport model that includes the processes of advection, dispersion, settling and re-suspension. The last module in
the simulation is the prediction of concurrent morphological changes due to sediment transport. To examine the
validity and applicability of the numerical model for predicting coastal sediment transport in the Pacific insular
environment where morphology of coral reefs and sand properties are different from those found in the mainland
coastal environment, we applied the prediction system to Kailua Bay on Oahu Island in Hawaii as a case study. The
numerical results have shown reasonable agreement with the available field observations.

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Beach erosion, sand accumulation, morphological change, coral reef, Kailua Beach.

INTRODUCTION port in such areas is closely related with dynamic interaction

In a coastal state such as Hawaii, a good understanding of
coastal sediment transport is important to government agen
cies, design engineers as well as private home owners. Like
other coastal states, Hawaii also experiences serious prob
lems associated with sediment transport such as beach ero
sion which has caused Hawaii's sandy shorelines to have
been either significantly narrowed or even lost (Fletcher et
al., 1997; Coyne et al., 1999). At the same time, at some lo
cations along the coast of Oahu, sand deposition has clogged
stream mouths, coastal highway culverts and bridge openings
reducing their drainage capacity during floods. In Hawaii,
researchers and engineers have conducted many useful long
term field observations and analysis of sediment transport
along the coasts, however, research on hydrodynamic mod
eling for predicting the ocean current and sediment transport
has been relatively limited. Even though some sediment
transport models and computer simulation codes have been
developed by researchers from mainland coastal states, these
models have not been applied to the Pacific insular coastal
regions that have unique bathymetric characteristics (e.g.,
steeper slopes) and sand properties. A characteristic of shal
low water in many tropic and some subtropical regions such
as Pacific insular coastal region is the presence of coral reef
area, where the energy dissipation processes are different
from those on mainland beaches. Since the sediment trans
04-0252R received and accepted in revision 28 July 2004.
between water flow and coral reefs, it is a very complex prob
lem to model, and existing theories and modeling tools have
not been matured. Therefore, more studies are needed in this
area. The objective of the present study is to develop a the
oretical and numerical modeling package for predicting the
wave-generated currents and sediment transport rate along
Hawaii's coasts, and to evaluate its validity and applicability
by applying the model to Kailua Bay on Oahu Island as a
case study. Such a modeling and simulation tool can be useful
to government agencies and coastal engineers for developing
better coastal management plans.
THEORY AND NUMERICAL METHOD
In this study, we model sediment transport due to coastal
current induced by wind-generated waves. The tidal effects
are neglected. The model has five components including a
parabolic equation for wave transformation from the deep
ocean to the coastal region, depth-integrated shallow water
equations for calculating coastal current, diffusion-advection
equations for sediment transport and a mass conservation
equation of bottom-layered sediments for predicting depth
changes. All models were coded by MATLAB.
In simulating the wave field, the grids are reformed for
each incident wave angle so as to receive the normal incident
waves. Then the numerical errors, which are caused by the
use of the wave model of parabolic type for wide angle, can
be reduced.

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 304 Lee, Teng and Kang

dA?Adkc
2ik d2A
+ iA? + 0 (1)
dx dx dy2
where x axis is the main direction of wave propagation, A is where h is the water depth to the active sea bed, SD is the
the complex variable of wave amplitude, kc is the wave num rate of bed deposition and SE is the rate of bed erosion (re
ber modified with the second order gradient of group velocity. suspension). In this study, the pickup and settling of sus
Equation (1) is solved by the marching procedure along the pended sediments on the reef flat are ignored.
x-direction. Unknown variable vector A at each section is cal Since SD is estimated by the concentration of suspended
culated by tri-diagonal matrix solver with previously calcu sediments, the advective-dispersive equation of suspended
lated upstream values. Therefore, complex wave amplitudes sediments has to be solved:
are achieved on each section without any correction of the
upstream and the downstream values during the marching -hdC
dt
dC
U-1"
dx
dC(w, ?,dC
V-hdy dz Wf)
procedure.
Through the surf zone, the breaking wave heights are as
sumed to remain a constant proportion of the depth such that

H = -yh (2) where C is the volume replaced by

where 7 is a constant. Equation (2) has been widely used in water volume as a normalized concen
imentation rate constant, Kh is the h
wave models because it provides stable and sufficiently ac
curate approximation. The constant is in the range of 0.65 ficient, and Kz is the vertical diffus
depth-integration, we can obtain
1.3 on beaches, while on a reef flat the constant decreases to
about 0.4 (Hardy and Young, 1996). dC
? + dC
u? dC __
+ v? = (d2C d2
Kh\-+
For predicting the depth-integrated coastal currents in
duced by wave radiation stress, a set of shallow water equa
dt dx dy h\dx2
tions (Lee, 1993) are applied in the present study: where SD = wfib(\ ? t/tcd) the rat
the critical bed shear stress that prev
concentration near the bottom, SE
(3)
dt dx dy bed erosion, in which the rate of sedi
seabed by breaking waves is also i
*k + d( 9*M + d(Q*Qy the erodibility coefficient, tce the cr
pl
dt dx\h + n/ dy\h + T| dx dy j for re-suspension. The critical sh
above are not included in the presen
+ g(h +dx
n)?
p
+ ? The coastal current velocity compon
based on the output result from the
(3)-(5). We now present the Cb in term
d_
dx dx
D, (4)
dy variables of sediments, wf and Kz. U
namic and sediment conditions in sp
dSyy condition in time, Eq. (7) can be wri
dt dx\h + r\ dy\h + t\ dx . d2C dC
K^
,?- ++wf?
"V- = 0 (9)
dz2 fdz
dy p which yields
d

fcb for^l (10)

d?2
dx dx dy dy
where n is the averaged water level, Qx and Qy are the x and
y components of the mean flow rate integrated from bottom
to water level, Syy and Sxy are the radiation stresses, tbx,
jBy are shear stress due to the bottom friction including shal
low coral reef effects (Garritsen, 1981), and Dy are dif
fusion and dispersion coefficients. All wave-related terms in
equations (3)-(5) are calculated based on the output from the
wave transformation model. Equations (3)-(5) are solved im
plicitly using a fractional step method in conjunction with the
approximate factorization techniques.
The rates of sea bed change mainly due to the suspended
sediment transport can be obtained from the difference be
tween the rates of sediment pickup and settling as follows
(Goda, 2001):
(5)
under the assumption that the surface concentration is near
ly zero. The rapid deposition process is found as parameter
w/Kz increases.
The suspended sediment transport is determined by a new
hybrid method which is superior in both result accuracy and
time-saving ability. It is based on the forward-tracking par
ticle method for advection (Lee, 1998). However, unlike the
conventional random-walking method, it solves the diffusion
process on the fixed Eulerian grids, which requires neither
an interpolating algorithm nor large number of particles.
KAILUA BAY
In our simulation, Kailua Bay area as shown in Figure la
is chosen as a case study since this area has been studied by

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 42, 2005

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 Sediment Transport in a Coral Reef Environment 305

Figure 1. (a) Location of study site, Kailua Bay on Oahu Island, (b) coral reefs and sand sampling locations on Kailua Bay (D50 unit: mm)

other researchers through field observation and measure
ment and its sediment transport patterns are relatively
known compared with most of other coastal areas in Hawaii.
Kailua Bay is composed of a large living and fossil reef plat
form that separates a coral sand beach in the nearshore from
the deep ocean, and Kailua Beach is a beautiful two-mile
stretch of sandy shoreline between the rocky points of Kapoho
and Alala as shown in Figure lb. This is a world-class wind
surfing zone and one of the most beautiful retreat beaches
around the world. Based on longer-term field survey and
analysis by Dr. Fletchers' research group at the University
of Hawaii (Norcross et al., 2002), the sand along Kailua
Beach has shown a long-term accretional trend and the
shoreline has been observed to move seaward at the average
rate of 0.5 m/yr. The sand accumulation is especially serious
near the mouth of Kaelepulu Stream and the river mouth is
almost constantly blocked. The sand blockage may pose a se
rious threat to coastal highways and residential areas during
storms. Currently, dredging work has to be done frequently
by the City & County of Honolulu engineers to keep the
stream mouth open to the ocean. Offshore of Kailua Beach
exists a low, limestone reef remnant that has been uplifted
relative to present-day sea level. It is separated from the
northwestern reef margin of the bay by a 10 ft (3 m) deep,
sandy channel. These topographical features as well as reef
factors are considered in our simulation. Our objective is to
examine the validity and applicability of the hydrodynamic
model developed in this study for predicting sediment trans
port in a coastal region in Hawaii by comparing the simulated
results with field observations.
During the winter season, the North Pacific Swell gener
ated by powerful winter storms also significantly impact Kai
lua Beach with typical wave heights and periods of 3-5 me
ters and 10-17 seconds. Other driving forces that may also
influence sediment transport include tides, storm surges and
others. For this study, our focus is on sediment transport due
to wind-generated waves in coastal waters.
We performed statistical analysis of the open wave condi
tions offshore Hawaii based on NOAA's simulated data that
were verified by comparing with measured buoy data at three
locations (Liu, 2003). Our analysis of 12 months wave data
for 2002 showed two distinct seasons (summer and winter)
with different wave characteristics in Hawaii's coastal wa
ters. The monthly variations of mean wave heights, wave pe
riods, and wave directions are shown in Figure 2a and a sam
ple of the joint distribution for wave data of May 2002 is
shown in Figure 2b.
In our study, we also conducted field sampling of sand par
ticles along the wave breaking line at various locations of
Kailua Bay. The sand size distribution curve and the D50 val
ues were obtained from the sieve analysis, and from the av
eraged D50 of 0.391mm, a representative settling velocity for
the sand of Kailua Bay area was determined to be 0.045m/s
according to the empirical relationship between the particle
size (sieve diameter) and its settling velocity (Engelund and
Hansen, 1972). The analyzed coastal sand properties (mean
particle size, settling velocity, etc) are required for simulating
the numerical models employed in this study.
SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

INPUT PARAMETERS
Oceanographic and beach conditions are very important to
the study of sediment transport. The ocean waves are the
most significant factor influencing the shorelines and coastal
beaches. The bay is exposed to prevailing easterly trade wind
swells with typical wave heights and periods of 1.5-3 meters
and 5-8 seconds.
The water depth of Kailua Bay shown in Figure 3a was
obtained by digitizing the navigation map from the Marine
Atlas of The Hawaiian Islands (Balder, 1992). The signifi
cant wave height, period and direction monthly averaged for
May 2002 (Hs = 1.75m, Ts = 7sec, and 6 = E) are used as
incident wave conditions to the wave transformation model
which predicts the wave condition in coastal water in Kailua
Bay based on the input data. Figure 3b shows the wave

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 42, 2005

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306 Lee, Teng and Kang

Figure 2. (a) Monthly variations, (b) joint distributions for wave data of May, 2002.

height distribution obtained from the wave transformation
model. The wave breaking zone can also be found easily from
the simulation result.
Figure 3c shows the results for the wave-induced current
as well as the wave-induced set-up level. The vectors dis
played in the figures show the current velocity visually with
the length of the arrow indicating the velocity magnitude and
the arrow direction showing the current movement. The re
sults are in good agreement with Krock's (1993) field obser
vation by dye and drogue as shown in Figure 3d and Noda's
(1977) field measurement using Rhodamine-B dye in the surf
zone in which longshore currents parallel to shore were ob
served at points B, C, and D except A where there were rip
currents. Further more, a field study by Norcross et al.
(2002) provides valuable information for validating the nu
merical simulation model. For example, it was observed that
the coastal current direction along the Kailua Beach is pre
dominantly from Kaelepulu Stream mouth to Kapoho Pt. The
same current direction is clearly shown in the simulated re
sult in Figure 3c. The wave set-up level depicted as contours
in Figure 3c are seen clearly at the surf zone where the waves
are broken based on the wave propagation model.
Figure 4a shows the topographical change for the compu
tational domain. This is a direct means to evaluate the de

Figure 3. Numerical results for Kailua Bay; (a) bathymetry (in meter), (b) wave height (in meter), (c) wave-induced currents and set-up (in cm/s and
cm), and (d) observed circulation patterns (Krock, 1993).

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 42, 2005

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 Sediment Transport in a Coral Reef Environment 307

Figure 4. Seabed changes: (a) for wave condition of May 2002, (b) results averaged for all possible angles (light: deposition, dark: erosion).

tailed sediment transport pattern in the study area. The ver
tical dispersion coefficient, Kz is assumed to be 5 times wf in
the simulation. The light areas indicate that erosion is oc
curring, while the dark areas are under sand accumulation.
The sand settling velocity was given as 0.045m/s based on
the averaged D50 of sampled sands and mixing coefficient was
assumed to be a constant value of 20 m2/s. Although field
studies have been carried out by other researchers in Kailua
Bay, quantitative sediment transport rate is difficult to mea
sure and therefore data are still not available. Due to the lack
of field data on sediment transport rate in Kailua Bay, quan
titative validation of the numerical model is not feasible at
this stage. However, qualitative analysis can be accomplished
by comparing the simulated results with available field ob
servations of general sediment transport patterns in the bay.
From Figure 4a, the deposition trend is found in the area
north of the Kaelepulu stream mouth. This result is consis
tent with the field observations in that area. As an example,
the predicted locations of erosion and deposition between
Kaelepulu and Kapoho shown in Figure 4a also agree well
with the observation reported in NORCROSS et al. (2002, Fig
ure 16). These qualitative agreements between the simulated
results and field observations indicate the promising poten
tial of the numerical modeling package developed in this
study for practical application to coastal prediction and man
agement in Hawaii and other similar Pacific insular states.
Figure 4b shows the seabed changes averaged for angle
from 40? to 90? measured from North, indicating nearly sam
trends when compared with Figure 4a, which is resulted fro
May 2002 wave condition. Figure 5 shows the variation o
seabed changes in the vicinity of the stream mouth with r
spect to wave angles from 40? to 90? measured from North.
In most of incident angles, the deposition occurs.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
In this study, a numerical model system was applied t
predict sediment transport in Kailua Bay of Oahu Island
Simulation study was carried out to predict waves, wave-in
duced current and sediment transport in Kailua Bay usin
wave, wave-induced current and sediment transport models
The study is based on a set of hydrodynamic equations (wav
transformation, shallow-water, and transport equations) that
is suitable for studying detailed wave-induced current and
sediment transport as well as topographical changes in
coastal area. For wave conditions, the open ocean wave data
were first extracted from the numerical simulation results o
NOAA WAVE WATCH III. Then statistical analysis was pe
formed on these data in order to determine the seasonal va
iations and to calculate the significant wave height, period
and angle for each month and season. From the data analy
sis, two distinct seasons were identified for wave variation
in Hawaii: summer season of April to September, and winter
season from October to March. During each season, the wav
conditions are relatively constant. Sand properties at Kailua
Beach were studied through field sampling and sieve analysis

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This study is partially funded by the US Federal Highway

Administration and the Hawaii State Department of Trans
portation.

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