A numerical study on beach cross-shore profiles response to storms and sea level rise

Nghi H. Trana,b,*, A. Vila-Concejoa, T. Sallesa, R. J McCarolla

a: Geocoastal Research Group, School of Geosciences, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia

b: Faculty of Civil Engineering, Water Resources University, Hanoi, Vietnam

*Corresponding author:

E-mail address: huu.tran@sydney.edu.au

Abstract

This study focuses on how the iconic Bondi beach in Sydney may change under the impact of potential storms and forecasted sea level rise.  We use the open-source model, XBeach (Roelvink et al., 2009), to investigate these impacts focusing on beach erosion and cross-shore profile changes. At first, the model is setup to simulate beach response to a past storm event that impacted the beach 12-August-2012. We use survey measurements obtained before and after the storm to calibrate the model. Finally, we use the calibrated model to predict beach response (erosion volumes and cross-shore profile changes) to different potential scenarios of storm power and predicted sea level rise in 2050 and 2100.

Key words: XBeach; beach and dune erosion; numerical model; sea level rise; cross-shore sediment transport

Biography

-Bachelor of Engineering, 2006, National University of Civil Engineering, Vietnam (Ports and Waterways Construction);

-Master of Engineering, 2010, The University of Tokyo (Coastal Engineering);

-PhD student, 2016-now, The University of Sydney;

-Lecturer at Water Resources University, Vietnam