Sand Ripple Dynamics on the Inner Shelf

The goals of this work are to develop better understanding and predictive capability for the development and evolution of sand ripples in coastal oceans. We have developed two high resolution, three-dimensional, coupled hydrodynamic - sediment transport, live-bed models to simulate sand ripple growth and evolution. We are using these models to explain fundamental ripple dynamics. We aim to demonstrate the contributions from bed-load and suspended load to ripple growth and decay, and the importance of interactions between kinetic and potential energy in the sediment load. The three-dimensional models simulate the response of the seabed under oscillatory and wave-current induced boundary layer flows with considerable skill, and we are developing a simple, one-dimensional, explanation of the key physical processes based on what we have learned from the complex 3D models.