One of the challenging problems of Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan, is the surface water-quality problem of the Ravi River, which flows through the main cities of the province. At present, the overall status of water quality is very polluted, primarily due to residential and industrial wastewater directly discharged into the Ravi River through a network of drains. Due to the poor quality of the water, the river ecosystem is not favorable for the aquatic and surrounding environment. Hence, management options are proposed to reduce pollution. Therefore, the study was formulated to identify the main sources of pollution along the Ravi River and their potential impact on the course of the river channel. In addition, the study applied a numerical model WASP 8.1 (Water Quality Simulation Program) to discover the best strategy for the improvement of water quality. Through the model simulation it was found that, if the flow at headwater and link canals is increased up to 50%, along with 75% improvement in the pollution concentration of drains through wastewater-treatment facilities, the water quality of the Ravi River can be improved up to an acceptable limit of water-quality standards.
Recently, because of the influence of climate change on sea level change, there has been growing concern regarding the erosion of beaches, which play a role in reducing the damage caused by coastal disasters. However, despite these concerns, a comprehensive understanding of the morphodynamic relationship between hazard factors and beach erosion is still lacking. Therefore, in this study, a vulnerability analysis of beach erosion was conducted by applying the shoreline response model (SLRM) of bulk model type, which identifies the physical characteristics of relevant coefficients based on the suspended sediment movement processes. To characterize wave energy incidence, storm wave scenario modeling and extreme wave analysis were conducted using wave data of 40 years on the east coast of Korea provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. A dimensionless mathematical function representing the storm wave scenario was proposed as a function of the peak wave height. In addition, to examine whether the beach vulnerability curve (BVC) obtained from the SLRM is valid, it was compared with the long-term shoreline observation data conducted at Maengbang Beach. For the past 9 years, sand sampling and shoreline observations were performed at Maengbang Beach about 5 times a year. However, since observations were performed in time intervals of several months, the direct comparison with model results was impossible, so a comparative analysis through statistical analysis of shoreline variability was performed. The variability of the shoreline for each reference point followed a normal distribution with a standard deviation of approximately 7.1 m. As a result of comparing the BVC results obtained from these statistical characteristics with those obtained from the model, significant similarity was shown in the high wave condition. Finally, the model was performed on two factors (mean wave height and peak wave height) which appear in SWSF and three factors (wave energy at breaking point, beach response factor and beach recovery factor) which appear in SLRM, and by analyzing the results, an approximate formula for the BVC is derived. This novel BVC approximation equation provides an intuitive understanding of the factors that affect beach vulnerability as well as their importance, and estimates the beach buffer section required to prevent coastal facilities from being damaged by erosion during a specific period. The results of this study can help limit reckless coastal development and mitigate erosion damage.
20 December 2021 in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
In many parts, coastal erosion is severe due to human-induced coastal zone development and storm impacts, in addition to climate change. In this study, the beach erosion risk was defined, followed by a quantitative assessment of potential beach erosion risk based on three components associated with the watershed, coastal zone development, and episodic storms. On an embayed beach, the background erosion due to development in the watershed affects sediment supply from rivers to the beach, while alongshore redistribution of sediment transport caused by construction of a harbor induces shoreline reshaping, for which the parabolic-type equilibrium bay shape model is adopted. To evaluate beach erosion during storms, the return period (frequency) of a storm occurrence was evaluated from long-term beach survey data conducted four times per year. Beach erosion risk was defined, and assessment was carried out for each component, from which the results were combined to construct a combined potential erosion risk curve to be used in the environmental impact assessment. Finally, the proposed method was applied to Bongpo–Cheonjin Beach in Gangwon-do, South Korea, with the support of a series of aerial photographs taken from 1972 to 2017 and beach survey data obtained from the period commencing in 2010. The satisfactory outcomes derived from this study are expected to benefit eroding beaches elsewhere.
Among the various causes of coastal erosion, the installation of offshore breakwaters is considered the main cause that influences the most serious changes in shorelines. However, without a proper means for predicting such terrain changes, countries and regions continue to suffer from the aftermath of development projects on coastal land. It has been confirmed that the parabolic bay shape equation (PBSE) can accurately predict shoreline changes under the wave climate diffracted as a result of such development projects. This study developed a shoreline change model that has enhanced the previous shoreline change models by applying PBSE to shoreline changes into bay-shaped features. As an analytical comparison with the second term of the GENESIS model, which is an existing and well-known shoreline change model, a similar beach erosion width was obtained for a small beach slope. However, as the beach slope became larger, the result became smaller than that of the GENESIS model. The validity of the model was verified by applying it to satellite images that demonstrated the occurrence of shoreline changes caused by breakwaters for seaports on the eastern coast of Korea; Wonpyeong beach, Yeongrang beach, and Wolcheon beach. As a result, each studied site converged on the static equilibrium planform within several years. Simultaneously, the model enabled the coastal management of the arrangement of seaports to evaluate how the construction of structures causes serious shoreline changes by creating changes to wavefields.
The shoreline temporarily recedes significantly as incoming storm waves reach the beach and cause wave breaking and energy dissipation. However, since the existing shoreline change model simulates shoreline change based on the longshore sediment transport rate (LSTR) empirical formulae, which are derived using the correlation between energy flux and littoral drift, it is difficult to simulate this phenomenon, which is drafted with transverse drift. Therefore, in this study, by applying the concept of the horizontal behavior of suspended sediments, a set of governing equations were derived that can simulate short-term shoreline changes in which the shoreline temporarily recedes, and then recovers. Among the three variables of the governing equation, the two main physical variables related to transverse drift—the beach response factor and the beach recovery factor—can be obtained from the median grain size. However, in the present study, the third variable, the actual transport speed of littoral drift, was estimated by comparison with the CERC formula and discussed from the point of view of alongshore energy flux and wave duration. This was established by introducing the delay factor of longshore sediment transport (DFLST), which indicates how slowly suspended sediments move relative to the longshore current speed. It was found that the littoral sediment speed is inversely proportional to the square root of the beach scale factor. The LSTR formula derived in this study was compared with the observed LSTR values collected from 25 beaches in the United States and with the results of four existing empirical formulae. The proposed governing equation is expected to be widely used as a means of predicting short-term shoreline changes, unlike existing shoreline change models, because it can consider the temporal shoreline retreat and recovery due to storm wave incidence.
28 February 2021 in Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology