ON BREAKING WAVES AND WAVE-CURRENT INTERACTION IN SHALLOW WATER: A 2DH FINITE ELEMENT MODEL

A two‐dimensional (horizontal plane) coastal and estuarine region model, capable of predicting the combined effects of gravity surface shallow‐ water waves (shoaling, refraction, diffraction, reflection and breaking), and steady currents, is described and numerical results are compared with those obtained experimentally. Two series of observations within a wave flume and a combined wave‐current facility were developed. In the first case, the wave was generated via a hinged paddle located within a deepened section at one end of the channel, as, in the second case, the wave propagating with or against the current was generated by a plunger‐type wavemaker; the re‐circulating current was introduced via one passing tank connected to a centrifugal pump. Several comparisons for a number of 1D situations and one 2D horizontal plane case are presented.