Numerical Investigations on the Transient Behavior of Sand Waves in Beibu Gulf Under Normal and Extreme Sea Conditions

In this study, a morphodynamic numerical model is established with the Regional Ocean Modeling System(ROMS)to investigate the transient behavior of sand waves under realistic sea conditions. The simulation of sand wave evolution comprises two steps: 1) a regional-scale model is configured first to simulate the ocean hydrodynamics, i.e., tides and tidal currents, and 2) the transient behavior of sand waves is simulated in a small computational domain under the time-variant currents extracted from the large model. The evolution of sand waves on the continental shelf in the Beibu Gulf is specifically investigated. The numerical results of the two-year evolution of sand waves under normal sea conditions compare well with the field survey data. The transient behavior of sand waves in individual months shows that the sand waves are more stable in April and October than that in other months, which can be selected as the windows for seabed operations. The effects of sediment properties, including settling velocity, critical shear stress and surface erosion rate, on sand wave evolution are also analyzed. Then, the typhoon-induced currents are further superimposed on the tidal currents as the extreme weather conditions. Sand waves with the average wavelength generally have more active behavior than smaller or larger sand waves. The characteristics of the evolution of sand waves in an individual typhoon process are quite different for different hydrodynamic combinations. For the storm conditions, i.e., the real combination and maximum combination cases, the sand waves experience a significant migration together with a damping in height due to the dominant suspended sediment transport. For the mild conditions, i.e., the pure tidal current and minimum combination cases, the sand waves migrate less, but the heights continue growing due to the dominant bedload transport.

Regeneration and anti-migration of sand waves associated with sand mining in the Taiwan Shoal

Sand waves in the Taiwan Shoal are characterized by two distinct spatial scales. Giant sand waves have a length of2 kilometers with height between 5 m and 25 m, whilst small sand waves is less than 100-m long with height less than 5 m between giant sand wave peaks(crests). A series of five high-resolution multi-beam echo-sounding surveys between 2012 and 2020 in the middle of Taiwan Shoal indicated that artificial dredging on the giant sand waves had caused sand wave reform and evolution. Overall, the removal of giant sand waves significantly affected the migration of small sand waves adjacent to the dredging site, with the latter on both sides of the former appear to migrate towards the dredging pit. Moreover, in the dredging area, new sand waves emerged with wavelength much smaller than the original giant sand waves, while the convergent pattern of the small sand waves tends to store and form the giant sand waves, which might spread far beyond the survey period.

The brightness reversal of submarine sand waves in “HJ-1A/B” CCD sun glitter images

The brightness reversal of submarine sand waves appearing in the small satellite constellation for environ- ment and disaster monitoring and forecasting （＂HJ- 1A/B＂） CCD sun glitter images can affect the observation and depth inversion of sand wave topography. The simulations of the normalized sun glitter radiance on the submarine sand waves confirm that the reversal would happen at a specific sensor viewing angle, defined as the critical angle. The difference between the calculated critical angle position and the reversal position in the image is about 1＇, which is excellent in agreement. Both the simulation and actual image show that sand wave crests would be indistinct at the reversal position, which may cause problems when using these sun glitter images to analyze spatial characteristics and migration of sand waves. When using the sun glitter image to obtain the depth inversion, one should take the advantage of image properties of sand waves and choose the location in between the reversal position and the brightest position. It is also necessary to pay attention to the brightness reversal when using ＂HI-1A/B＂ CCD images to analyze other oceanic features, such as internal waves, oil slicks, eddies, and ship wakes.

Sediment mathematical model for sand ridges and sand waves

A new theoretical model is formulated to describe internal movement mechanisms of the sand ridges and sand waves based on the momentum equation of a solid-liquid two-phase flow under a shear flow. Coupling this equation with two-dimensional shallow water equations and wave reflection-diffraction equation of mild slope, a two-dimensional coupling model is established and a validation is carried out by observed hydrogeology, tides,waves and sediment. The numerical results are compared with available observations. Satisfactory agreements are achieved. This coupling model is then applied to the Dongfang 1-1 Gas Field area to quantitatively predict the movement and evolution of submarine sand ridges and sand waves. As a result, it is found that the sand ridges and sand waves movement distance increases year by year, but the development trend is stable.

Sand Waves Generation: A Numerical Investigation of the Infiernillo Channel in the Gulf of California

The effect of the coastal geometry on sand bed forms generation has been investigated for a tidal dominated area. Different hypothetical geometries of coastal channels with flat bottoms and unlimited sediment availability were exposed to strong oscillatory tidal currents to simulate the interaction of hydrodynamics and the bedload sediment transport. The hypothetical geometries stand for the idealization of the principal geographic features of the Infiernillo Channel, a coastal area of the Gulf of California where sandbanks and sand waves have been observed. A depth integrated hydrodynamic-numerical model and a parameterized formula to estimate the bedload sediment transport were applied coupled with a sediment conservation equation to determine the sea bottom morphodynamics. Model predictions in the Infiernillo Channel were compared to available satellite imagery. This investigation demonstrates that a vertical integrated numerical model is able to reproduce the development of incipient sand waves that exist in the Infiernillo Channel. Incipient sandbanks and shoals were also simulated. Sand waves with wavelengths of about 200 m were calculated on the same locations where sand waves actually exist. A crucial finding of this research was to show that the geometry of a shallow water basin and the presence of tidal velocity gradients associated with abrupt changes in the coastline alignment were critical in determining the sand-bed pattern generation. We demonstrate that a vertical variation of tidal currents is not necessary to generate sand waves.

Morphological Characteristics of Sand Waves in the Middle Taiwan Shoal Based on Multi-beam Data Analysis

A DTM map of the study area in the Taiwan Shoal was drawn based on precise and high- density data acquired in a field survey by a multi-beam sounding system （R2Sonic2024）. We identified sand waves in the study area at water depths of 13.89-49.12 m; the main sand waves had heights of 5- 25 m, lengths of 0.1-2.0 km, and crest lines 0.1-6.5 km long. The spatial distribution of the sand waves on the seabed is dense in the north and sparse in the south and the directions range between 50°-80° and 90°-135°. Between the main sand waves, secondary sand waves develop with heights of 0.1-5.0 m and lengths of 10-100 m, which are difficult to detect by satellite remote sensing. By comparing the evolution structures of the secondary and main sand waves, we identified three evolution modes of the secondary sand waves： parallel, oblique, and divergent modes according to the relative crest directions. Suitable water depth, reciprocating current speeds between 40 and 100 cm/s, and abundant sediment supply create favorable conditions for the formation of linear sand waves. Comparing the DTM maps and profiles of the June 2012 and June 2013 surveys of the same area, we found that the shape and morphology of the sand waves remained mostly unchanged under normal hydrodynamic conditions.

Priori knowledge based a bathymetry assessment method using the sun glitter imagery:a case study of sand waves on the Taiwan Banks

High resolution optical satellite imageries containing the sun glitter,similar to synthetic aperture radar（SAR） imageries,are useful in identifying and mapping of bottom topography in shallow waters.The errors in the previous studies are corrected,and a method for mapping submarine bottom topography is developed using the sun glitter satellite imagery.The method is established on the basis of empirical description of a sand wave using an equation with two unknowns named r and k.In order to determine r and k,a ＂trial and error＂ approach is introduced and testified by a case study on the Taiwan Banks using an ASTER imagery.The results show that the inversed water depths match well with the sounding water depths.The agreement between the inversed results and the in situ measurements is about 78% by comparing 371 points.Moreover,this method has the advantage in keeping the original appearance of a sand wave,especially in positions around the sand wave crest.The fine agreement indicates that the imaging model is flexible and the approach developed is feasible.

Numerical research on evolvement of submarine sand waves in the Northern South China Sea

Submarine sand waves, vital to seabed stability, are an important consideration for oceanic engineering projects such as oil pipe lines and submarine cables. The properties of surface sediment and the evolvement of submarine sand waves in a specified area in the South China Sea are studied using both a hydrological model and field observational data. The bottom flow field data between 2010 and 2011 in the study area are simulated by the Regional Ocean Model System （ROMS）. The migration of submarine sand waves is calculated using Rubin＇s formula along with typhoon data and bottom flow field data, which allows for the analysis of sand wave response under the influence of typhoons. The migration direction calculated by Rubin＇s formula and bottom flow are very similar to collected data. The migration distance of different positions is between 0.0 m and 21.8 m, which reciprocates cumulatively. This shows that Rubin＇s formula can predict the progress of submarine sand waves with the bottom flow simulated by ROMS. The migration distances of 2 sites in the study area are 2.0 m and 2.9 m during the typhoon ＂Fanapi＂. The proportion of the calculated migration distance by the typhoon is 9.17% and 26.36% of the annual migration distance, respectively, which proves that the typhoon can make a significant impact on submarine sand waves.

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF TURBULENT FLOW AROUND SAND WAVES AND SAND BARS

Natural rivers usually possess sand waves and sand bars. In this article, the rapid distortion theory was used to study the turbulent flow over sand waves. The results show that the pre-existing sheafing motion and upstream anisotropy of the turbulence flow would have significant effect on the turbulent structures, and hence the memory effect should be taken into consideration. Furthermore, the 2-D mathematical model was employed to simulate the unsteady flow around the Taiping Sand Bar in the lower reach of the Yangtze River and the time step effect on the unsteady flow simulation with the implicit scheme was discussed at the same time. The results show that the implicit scheme keeps effective until the time step reaches a certain number, and the calculated water levels and velocities are in agreement with the observed data.

Activity and Formation of Sand Waves on Northern South China Sea Shelf

Sand waves on the northern South China Sea shelf had been considered as stable relict bed form. For the industry use of sea bed between stations LF13-2 and LF13-1, a new round of explorations were conducted. The newly obtained data show that both spacings and amplitudes of sand waves are all systematically changing with water depth. Repeated observations since 2003 to 2004 showed that the sea bed is currently active. Due to strong erosion of surface sediment since Dongsha （东沙） uplifting, there are almost no modern sediments on the shelf of Dongsha area. Sand materials in the study area mainly originate from the erosion of the bed sediment formation. The water depth increment revealed by repeated echo sounder data is mainly due to erosion. Bottom currents are quite complex in the area of Dongsha underwater plateaus. At site 9MKH, the southward ebb current is stronger than the north- ward flood current, while at site AEM-HR, the WNW-ward flood current is slightly stronger than the ESE-ward ebb current. At site 9MKII, the maximum bottom current speed is 48 cm/s, and 22% of the observed bottom current speeds are larger than 20 cm/s, which meet the minimum bottom current speed required for the creation of sand wave. This article points out that present-day oceanographic condition couples well with the sand-wave morphologies, and that the sand waves are to a great extent in equilibrium with the ongoing present-day oceanographic bottom current condition and active.

Sand wave deposition in the Taiwan Shoal of China

The Taiwan Shoal is the convex terrain in the southern Taiwan Strait, the largest strait in China. In 2006 and 2007, 21 samples and more than 200-km sub-bottom data as well as 80-km near shore side-scan sonar data were gotten, which gave an initial image of the boundaries of the Taiwan Shoal and revealed the internal structure of the sand waves in this area. The results showed that the major component of the sediment samples was sand, and sand waves occurred everywhere in this area, which closely followed the range of the Taiwan Shoal as we know. The western boundary of the Taiwan Shoal thus reaches the 30 m isobaths near the shore, and as a result, its area potentially covers approximately 12 800-14 770 km2. The sand waves have different shapes under the complex ocean dynamics, and the height of sand waves in the near shore is usually smaller than that in the Taiwan Shoal. The number of sand waves ranged from 1-5 per kilometer, with more waves in the isobath-intensive area, suggesting the importance of topography for the formation of sand waves. The stratigraphic structure under the seabed has parallel bedding or cross bedding, and large dipping groove bedding can be seen locally in different parts, which may be the result of terrestrial deposition since the Late Pleistocene.

Reconstruction of large complex sand-wave bathymetry with adaptive partitioning combining satellite imagery and sparse multi-beam data

Shallow marine sand waves are formed on the seabed and are widely distributed within tidal environments.However,the use of multibeam echo sounding(MBES)is costly to obtain the bathymetric mapping of large complex sand waves.Therefore,we propose a new method that employs a combination of multiangle sun glint images and sparse MBES data to achieve comprehensive bathymetric mapping of large and complex sand waves.This method involves estimating sea surface roughness,automatically extracting sand-wave crests,conducting adaptive subregion partitioning,estimating the water depth at auxiliary points,and generating digital bathymetric models.The method was employed in a case study of sand waves on the Taiwan Bank.Bathymetric mapping was implemented for large complex sand waves over an area spanning approximately 350 km~2 using multiangle sun glint images from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer and MBE S data.The results show that mapped and measured water depths were well-matched;the root-mean-square error of water depths was 1.77 m,and the relative error was 5.03%.These findings show that bathymetric mapping of large complex sand waves can be effectively conducted using the new method,and as such,the workload of MBES is reduced and efficiency is improved.

Applications in New River-meander Model

If the sediment transport behaves as bed-load,the sediment surface at meandering channel will deform into transverse waves.This investigation is a new model for prediction of river-meander models in nature.The aim of this research is to give a precise method whose bed forms can have a variety of scales ranging from ripples through small dunes to fully developed dunes or sandwaves.Its mathematical model will be investigated.

PROCESS CONTROL OF THE SAND WAVE MIGRATION IN BEIBU GULF OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

Based on the environment characteristics of the Beibu Gulf of South China Sea, a quasi-three-dimensional physical model is built. By coupling the bottom boundary layer with the two-dimensional tidal current field near the seabed surface, the quasi-three-dimensional hydrodynamic numerical simulation is carried out. The sand wave migration process is dealt with by coupling the hydrodynamic model with the sediment transport model. The computational results are shown to be in good agreement with the observed data, which indicates that the quasi-three-dimensional physical model can be used to simulate the migration process for small scale sand waves. Then, based on measured data, the evolution of the sand wave migration is investigated. An effective formula is developed to predict the migration rate, in which not only the effects of the environment but also the features of sand waves are considered.

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON BED FORMS AND FLOW RESISTANCE OF LIGHT－WEIGHT MATERIALS WITH DIFFERENT DENSITIES

Experiments were conducted to investigate bed forms and flow resistance of light-weight sediment in an open channel flow. Three different synthetic materials of specific gravity 1. 055, 1. 46, each with uniform sizes D50 for 1. 25mm, 1. 05mm, 1. 40mm were used. Some conclusions were obtained from the resultS of these experiments and the data of other reliable sources[1, 2, 3, 4]. They indicate that the grain resistence is greatly affected by D50, and bed form resistances is the function of the downstream slope and the height of the dune. As well as natural sand, Y is not only the function of Y', but also affected by the relative roughness Rb/D50 and the size of the sediment.