The Effect of Bottom Sediment Transport on Wave Set-Up

In this paper we augment the wave-averaged mean field equations commonly used to describe wave set-up and wave-induced mean currents in the near-shore zone, with an empirical sediment flux law depending only on the wave-induced mean current and mean total depth. This model allows the bottom to evolve slowly in time, and is used to examine how sediment transport affects wave set-up in the surf zone. We show that the mean bottom depth in the surf zone evolves according to a simple wave equation, whose solution predicts that the mean bottom depth decreases and the beach is replenished. Further, we show that if the sediment flux law also allows for a diffusive dependence on the beach slope then the simple wave equation is replaced by a nonlinear diffusion equation which allows a steady-state solution, the equilibrium beach profile.