Journal of Coastal Research SI 85 1231–1235 Coconut Creek, Florida 2018

Measurement of Sediment Concentration of the Oscillatory Flow in

the Surf- and Swash-zone
J. Wang
Z. , Z.Wang
Qu†, †J. Qu†*,†*Z. XuXu
, Z. , J.S.
† †
Shim
, J.S. ‡
, B.‡Liang
Shim †
, and†,D.Y.
, B. Liang and Lee †
D.Y. Lee†
†
College of Engineering, ‡
Korea Institute of Ocean
Ocean University of China Science and Technology,
Qingdao, Shandong, China Asian, Korea
www.cerf-jcr.org

ABSTRACT

Wang,
Qu, Z.; J.; Qu, Z.;
Wang, Xu,, Z.; Shim, J.S.; Liang, B., and
J.; Xu and Lee,
Lee, D.Y.,
D.Y., 2018.
2018. Measurement
Measurement of of Sediment
Sediment Concentration
Concentration of the
the
Oscillatory Flow in the Surf-
Oscillatory Surf- and
and Swash-zone. In: Shim,
Swash-zone. . In: Shim, J.-S.;
J.-S.; Chun,
Chun, I.,
I., and
and Lim,
Lim, H.S.
H.S. (eds.), Proceedings from
(eds.), Proceedings from the
the
International CoastalSymposium
International Coastal Symposium(ICS)
(ICS)2018
2018(Busan,
(Busan,Republic
Republicofof Korea).
Korea). Journal
Journal of Coastal
of Coastal Research,
Research, Special
Special IssueIssue
No.
No. 85,1231-1235.
85, pp. pp. 1231-1235. Coconut
Coconut CreekCreek (Florida),
(Florida), ISSN ISSN 0749-0208.
0749-0208.

The sediment transports near the bed need to be accurately observed to validate the existing models that are
www.JCRonline.org based on the empirical formula for the sediment flux and to develop more realistic morphology prediction model.
One of the essential tasks for the evaluating the existing models and developing new one is the precise
measurement of the sediment transport at swash zone without disturbing flow. Different methods in estimating
the sediment transport rates at the surf-zone and swash-zone such as measuring the time evolution of the bed
profile, sand ripple volume and migration speed are investigated and evaluated. To develop more reliable
estimation of the sediment flux by measuring the vertical profiles of sediment concentration and velocity without
disturbing the flow conditions, method of estimation of the vertical sediment concentration profile by detecting
the backscattered light intensity using high quality camera was tested and evaluated. The problems of different
methods in estimating the sediment flux are identified and discussed.

ADDITIONAL INDEX WORDS: Sediment concentration, sediment flux, swash-zone, video camera.

INTRODUCTION ripple is formed, sediment transport rate can be estimated by

Traditional sand transport models are based on the empirical
formula for the sediment flux. The cross-shore sediment
transports need to be observed to validate the existing sediment
transport and morphology prediction models and to develop more
one. There are many different methods in measuring sediment
transport rates such as sediment traps (Hughes, Masselink, and
Brander, 1997; Masselink and Hughes, 1998), optics, acoustics,
conductivity sensors etc. The swash zone is characterized by
strong and unsteady flows, high turbulence levels, large
suspended sediment concentrations, high sediment fluxes and
relatively rapid rates of morphological change (Blenkinsopp et al.,
2011). Due to its complexity and the inherent difficulty of making
in situ. measurements, the processes are not fully understood.
Since sediment trap has problem in measuring sediment flux for
the wave induced oscillatory flow, other methods need to be
implemented.
Indirect measurements of sediment transport in the swash zone
can be obtained by measurement of the evolution of the bed
profile at sufficiently high temporal and spatial resolution. The
net flux of sediment across the swash zone can be determined
from observed rates of beach face morphological evolution. Bed
elevation need to be measured at high temporal resolution at
multiple locations on the beach face for this purpose. When sand
____________________
DOI: 10.2112/SI85-247.1
10.2112/SI85-247.1received
received30
30November
November2017;
2017;accepted
acceptedinin
revision 10 February
February 2018.
wj88710@126.com
*Corresponding author: zp.qu@foxmail.com
©
©
2018
Coastal Education and Research Foundation, Inc. 2018.
detecting ripple volume and propagating speed.
Conductivity concentration meters (CCMs) were used in
measuring the sediment concentrations within the sheet-flow
layer (Ribberink and Al-Salem, 1995; McLean et al., 2001;
Dohmen-Janssen and Hanes, 2005; Van der Zanden et al., 2015).
Multiple adjacent sensors, conductivity concentration profiler
(CCP) were used to increase vertical coverage (Lanckriet, Puleo,
and Waite, 2013). More directly, sediment transport rate can be
estimated by detecting the vertical profile of the suspended
sediment concentration together with flow velocity precisely with
small space and time resolution. The suspended sediment
concentration (SSC) can be measured using Optical Backscatter
Sensors and Fiber Optical Backscatter Sensors (FOBS) sensors.
US Army Corps of Engineers successfully measured SSC profile
using FOBS at Large Scale Sediment Transport Facility (LSTF)
experiment measuring SSC every 1 cm near the bed in 16 Hz
(Wang et al., 2002).
However, these methods of sediment concentration
measurement have problems in measuring the detailed vertical
profile of the sediment concentration in high time and space
resolution without disturbing the shallow and violent flow
condition. It is necessary to test and evaluate different kinds
methods in estimating the sediment transport rate and develop
more stable method to measure the detailed vertical sediment
concentration profile for the advanced studies of the sediment
transport at swash zone. However, these methods of sediment
concentration measurement have problems in measuring the
detailed vertical profile of the sediment concentration in high time
and space resolution without disturbing the shallow and violent
1232

Qu et al.
Wang et al.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

flow condition. It is necessary to test and evaluate different kinds

methods in estimating the sediment transport rate and develop
more stable method to measure the detailed vertical sediment
concentration profile for the advanced studies of the sediment
transport at swash zone.

Background and Goal

Prediction of the sediment transport for the coastal waters is a
challenging task, which is essential for the beach erosion
protection and efficient beach management. One of the essential
tasks for the evaluating the existing models and developing new
one is the precise measurement of the sediment transport at swash
zone without disturbing flow. Figure 1. Video image and detection of bed profile.
A series of laboratory experiments had been carried out at
Ocean University of China's 2D wave flume to investigate the
sediment transport processes at the swash zone. The detailed Sand ripple volume and propagating speed
sediment transport rates can be obtained for different The ripple migration rate can provide an estimate of the
environments through monitoring of the precise evolution of the sediment transport rate and direction and the mean transport
beach profiles of the swash- and surf zone using video cameras associated with the migration 𝑄𝑄𝑏𝑏 can be estimated with the
from side-wall of the 2D wave flume (Wang et al., 2016; Yang et assumption of geometry remains constant during migration and
al., 2016). However, the estimation of the sediment flux just from was calculated by detecting ripple migration speed 𝑀𝑀𝑟𝑟 by means
the evolution of beach profile neglecting the variation of the of ripple time series analysis or auto-correlation.
suspended sediment concentration has limitation in studying the
𝑄𝑄𝑏𝑏 = 0.5(1 − 𝑝𝑝)𝜌𝜌𝑠𝑠 𝜂𝜂𝑀𝑀𝑟𝑟 （2）
wave resolving sediment transport processes at surf- and swash-
zone. It is essential to evaluate the measuring methods and where 𝑝𝑝 is the sediment porosity, 𝜌𝜌𝑠𝑠 is the sediment density and
develop stable method of measurement of the high concentration 𝜂𝜂 is the ripple height. Figure 2 shows the detection of ripple
sediment concentration with high time and space resolution geometry from video image.
without disturbing the flow condition. The final purpose is to
investigate the wave resolving sediment transport processes and
evaluate the sediment transport model by building proper capacity
to measure SSC profile for the high concentration layer bear the
bed.

METHODS
Different methods of measurement of sediment flux and
concentration are investigated and evaluated. Stable method of
measurement of the high concentration sediment concentration Figure 2. Detection of detailed ripple geometry, dark area is the sand
with high time and space resolution are to be developed. bed, dotted line indicates the detected ripple profile.

Continuous evolution of morphology change

The time variations of bed profile were observed using video
camera mounted aside the glass wall of 2D wave flume (Figure
1). The bottom bed profile is estimated by detecting the interface
of the fluid and bed every 0.1 second. The space resolution can
be in the range of 0.5-2 mm depending on the position and
resolution of video camera. Figure 1 shows example of video
image and detection of bed profile. Image compensation was
carried out by sticking grids of known dimension before
individual tests, through which the relationship between real
world coordinate and image coordinate was established.
The sediment flux was estimated from the observed time
evolution of the beach profile using the 1-D continuity equation
of bottom sediment with boundary condition of no sediment flux
at the dune assuming that the changes in the long-shore direction
are negligible at the 2D wave flume,
𝜕𝜕𝑄𝑄𝑡𝑡 𝜕𝜕𝑧𝑧
= −(1 − 𝜌𝜌) 𝑏𝑏 （1）
𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕 𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕
where 𝜌𝜌 is sediment porosity, 𝑧𝑧𝑏𝑏 is bed level and 𝑄𝑄𝑡𝑡 is sediment
transport rates.
Conductivity Concentration measurement
As the CCM returns only a point measurement, which is
insufficient to instantaneously determine the vertical
concentration profile, multiple adjacent sensors, conductivity
concentration profiler (CCP) was developed and provided by
Korea Ocean Science and Technology Institute (KIOST) which
can measure sediment concentration profile of the high
concentration flow with space resolution of 2 mm with time
interval of 0.25 sec. (Figure 3). It works by a conductive strip on
a metal probe, one cycle for positive and negative current through
the four conductive strips.
Fiber optical back scattering sensors
Characteristics of change of the light intensity is suitable for
the high concentration flow for different processes of the back
scattering, absorption and transmission. It is necessary to correct
the relationship between back scattered (or transmitted) light
intensity and the sediment concentration for high concentration

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, 2018

 1233

Measurement of sediment concentration of the oscillatory flow in the surf- and swash-zone

sheet flow. Development of high resolution high concentration

sediment concentration profiler using Fiber Optics is meaningful.

Figure 3. CCP provided by KIOST (left) and FOBS (right).
(a) (b)
Figure 4. (a) Example of the sediment flux estimated from the time
evolution of the bed profile using Exner equation. (b) Example of sand
ripple profile at two different time stages from which ripple migration
speed can be estimated.

Light transmission or reflectance measurement

The backscattering, absorption and transmission of the light
intensity depends on the sediment concentration. By obtaining the
relationship between transmitted or backscattered light intensity
and the sediment concentration through calibration, the sediment
concentration can be measured by detecting the light intensity
using photo sensor. The method meets the requirement of fast
response and wide coverage.
For wide coverage, high quality video cameras were used to
detect the transmission or backscattering light intensity. The light
from the water sample detected by the video camera is used to
estimate SSC from a site-specific empirical model. From the
relation between SSC and backscattered light intensity from the
water surface, the video image is converted to the SSC.
Different combination of light source and light detection sensor Figure 5. Example of the transmission light intensity detected from the
were tested to see the reliable method. The relationship is video camera from which sediment concentration can be estimated using
relationship between light intensity and sediment concentration obtained
dependent on the optical properties of the sediment type, light
from calibration procedure.
source and spatial resolution of the measurements and the sensor
observation angle. Moreover, the sensitivity of spectral
reflectance technique is low. With the spectral reflectance
For high sediment concentration, light transmission method
technique, it is possible to measure SSC over a large cross-section.
came across problems with strong absorption of the light by high
The light direction and camera lens are adjusted to minimize the
concentration sediment as shown Figure 5. In case of high
impact of the light reflected from the glass of the side wall of the
concentration, light reflection methods can be used. Example of
2D wave flume.
the video image of the reflected light is shown in Figure 6.
RESULTS
An example of the sediment flux estimated from the time
evolution of bed profile is shown in Figure 4(a). Variation of
sediment flux along the on-shore distance can be estimated. In
case of sand ripple, the ripple volume and its migration speed can
be estimated from the video image analysis of two consecutive
time interval as shown in Figure 4(b).
When the relation between sediment concentration and the
transmission or reflected light intensity is obtained, the light
intensity (pixel value) detected by the video camera (Figure 5,6)
can be converted to sediment concentration for each frame of the
video image.

Figure 6. Example of variation of the back scattering light intensity at 2D

wave flume experiment, the red, blue, green, yellow line notice different
concentration contour.

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, 2018

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Qu et al.et al.
Wang
_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Table 1. Pixel values of the reflected light intensity monitored by video camera for different sediment concentration for two different
sediment size (𝑑𝑑50 =0.2mm and 𝑑𝑑50 =0.4mm)

𝑑𝑑50 =0.2 𝑑𝑑50 =0.2 𝑑𝑑50 =0.4 𝑑𝑑50 =0.4

Concentrati Pixel gray Concentrati Pixel gray Concentrati Pixel gray Concentratio Pixel gray
mm mm mm mm
on (g/L) value on (g/L) value on (g/L) value n (g/L) value
Case Case Case Case
1 1.902 74.923 30 28.989 131.923 1 1.902 63.111 30 28.989 118.778
2 2.852 76.077 31 29.907 130.000 2 2.852 63.556 31 29.907 108.667
3 3.800 80.692 32 30.823 129.846 3 3.800 71.222 32 30.823 118.222
4 4.748 84.154 33 31.739 130.923 4 4.748 77.222 33 31.739 118.778
5 5.694 86.000 34 32.653 134.538 5 5.694 76.778 34 32.653 114.333
6 6.639 88.692 35 33.566 137.615 6 6.639 84.778 35 33.566 114.778
7 7.583 88.077 36 34.479 136.769 7 7.583 85.333 36 34.479 119.333
8 8.526 90.462 37 35.390 140.538 8 8.526 82.000 37 39.024 116.000
9 9.467 94.692 38 36.300 139.077 9 9.467 88.333 38 43.544 118.667
10 10.408 95.846 39 37.209 140.462 10 10.408 89.000 39 48.037 128.667
11 11.348 99.692 40 38.117 140.385 11 11.348 88.778 40 52.504 127.667
12 12.286 99.923 41 39.024 137.385 12 12.286 92.111 41 56.946 132.000
13 13.223 102.308 42 39.930 143.077 13 13.223 93.111 42 61.362 125.667
14 14.159 101.462 43 40.835 144.538 14 14.159 96.778 43 65.753 121.000
15 15.094 106.231 44 41.739 141.846 15 15.094 92.778 44 70.120 128.667
16 16.028 106.000 45 42.642 144.462 16 16.028 102.444 45 74.461 125.667
17 16.961 112.385 46 43.544 141.615 17 16.961 98.889 46 78.778 133.111
18 17.893 111.538 47 48.037 141.769 18 17.893 96.667 47 83.070 130.444
19 18.824 114.385 48 52.504 143.846 19 18.824 102.556 48 87.338 120.667
20 19.753 114.308 49 56.946 148.538 20 19.753 109.889 49 91.582 126.556
21 20.682 117.385 50 61.362 146.385 21 20.682 111.333
22 21.609 117.692 51 65.753 142.077 22 21.609 108.111
23 22.535 115.385 52 70.120 142.462 23 22.535 107.444
24 23.460 123.000 53 74.461 139.615 24 23.460 112.556
25 24.385 122.077 54 78.778 139.308 25 24.385 106.778
26 25.308 123.231 55 83.070 143.000 26 25.308 117.000
27 26.230 129.154 56 87.338 139.538 27 26.230 112.556
28 27.150 126.077 57 91.582 139.846 28 27.150 109.222
29 28.070 129.231 29 28.070 113.333

For the light reflectance measurement method, the calibration orbital velocity is strong that sediment near the bed is transported
curve needs to be prepared by measuring the intensity of the by the sheet flow motion.
reflected light for different sediment concentration by preparing
the fully mixed water and sediment mixture (Table 1). Figure 7
shows the relationship between the reflected light intensity and
sediment concentration. The sediment concentration can be
measured according to the reflected light intensity of the sediment
concentration lower than 100g/L.

DISCUSSION
The method of the estimation of the sediment flux by detecting
the time evolution of the bed profile is based on the Exner
equation, that is, the sediment conservation that relate bed level
change and sediment flux gradient, which is not valid in
considering the change of the amount of sediment in suspension.
It has limitation in application especially at the case where
suspended sediment play an important role. Considering the
variation of SSC in the suspension, the sediment conservation
equation can be written as:
ℎ
𝜕𝜕𝑄𝑄𝑡𝑡 𝜕𝜕 𝜕𝜕𝑧𝑧𝑏𝑏
= − (∫ 𝑐𝑐𝑑𝑑𝑧𝑧 ) − (1 − 𝜌𝜌) （3）
𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕 𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕 0 𝜕𝜕𝜕𝜕
where 𝑐𝑐 is the suspended sediment concentration. By measuring
the vertical profile of the SSC in addition to the evolution of the
bed profile, more accurate sediment flux can be estimated using Figure 7. The calibration curve of the light reflectance method- relation
Eq. 3. The method of sediment flux estimation by measuring between the reflected light intensity and sediment concentration (up figure
ripple volume and ripple migration speed can be used when for 𝑑𝑑50=0.2mm, down figure for 𝑑𝑑50=0.4mm).
sediment transport is induced by the formation of the sand ripple
and its migration. It cannot be used in the case when the wave

Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, 2018


Measurement of sediment concentration of the oscillatory flow in the surf- and swash-zone
These methods are based on the assumption that the impact of
the side walls of the 2D wave flume on sediment transport is
negligibly small. The observation of the beach profiles using the
total station and visual observation of the bed across the channel
support the validity of this assumption for most of the cases.
The conductivity concentration sensor and fiber optic
backscattering sensor can measure sediment concentration at a
point. They can be used in the efficient calibration of other
method like video monitoring method. To measure vertical
profile, a series of sensors with fine interval are used, which may
disturb the flow condition. The disadvantage of CCP is that the
probe needs to be replaced frequently and the calibration changes
with the salinity and sampling rate is not enough to measure high
frequency oscillation of the suspended sediment concentration.
The method using high quality camera image in detecting the
sediment concentration has lots of advantages in measuring SSC
profile without disturbing flow in high time and space resolution.
It can be also used in monitoring the time evolution of the beach
profile to measure sediment flux described above. To use this
method in the continuous measurement of the wide area more
efficiently, some problem such as light reflection from the glass
of the side wall of the 2D wave flume and calibration for wide
range of controlling parameters need to be solved.
High-resolution acoustic concentration and velocity profiler
measures simultaneous and collocated vertical velocity and
sediment concentration profiles. The probes that measure velocity
and sediment concentration at one point very close to the bed can
be used in swash-zone.
Essential task in measuring SSC indirectly by measuring
electricity, sound or light is proper calibration of the sensors.
CONCLUSIONS
Various methods of measurement of sediment flux and
sediment concentration at the oscillatory flow had been
implement and evaluated. The method of observing the high
sediment concentration profile near the bed by measuring
backscattering light intensity using high quality camera is
promising. It has advantages in measuring wide area to cover
vertical variation of the concentration profile in high time and
space resolution without disturbing flow condition.
Each method has means of converting the measured data into
sediment concentration, advantages and disadvantages, problems
encountered in their use. In measuring sediment concentration
indirectly by measuring reflected light intensity using camera, the
proper calibration to covert the light intensity to the sediment
concentration is essential.
It is still not possible to make detailed or accurate
measurements of suspensions very close to the seabed without
disturbing the flow condition to be used in the study of swash
zone sediment transport. The light backscattering method has lots
of advantages but still has problem in measuring very high
sediment concentration to be able to measure sediment
concentration of the sheet flow. Spectral reflectance method
needs to be tested to be able to measure sediment concentration
of the sheet flow with proper method of calibration.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the
National Science Fund (Grant No. 51739010, 51679223), the 111
Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 85, 2018
1235
Project (No. B14028), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Key
Basic Program (Grant No. ZR2017ZA0202) and a grant of the 7th
Generation Ultra-Deep-water Drilling Rig Innovation Project.
Authors appreciate Otronics Inc. and Dr. K.S. Bahk in building
the CCP for the experiment. Prof. Ye YH’s advice on the
measurement of sediment concentration using FOBS is also
appreciated. The authors also would like to acknowledge the
support from the KIOST Research Program, Development of
Coastal Erosion Control Technology.
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