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Permanent bedforms in a theoretical model of wave-sea-bed interactions
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA
Abstract. The interaction between sea waves and a deformable sea-bed is studied with a simple two-layer model in which the upper-layer fluid is inviscid and the lower-layer fluid is bi-viscous to account for non-Newtonian behaviour of sand and sediments. The nonlinear response of the system to periodic forcing by an external surface pressure is determined. It is shown that a simple bi-viscous rheology allows small wavelength morphology in the lower layer to be generated from large wavelength surface waves in the upper inviscid layer, although the morphology is not permanent. For a bi-viscous rheology with a pressure-dependent yield stress (which accounts for the fact that sand yields less readily under loading than unloading), however, small wavelength and permanent features are formed in the seabed.
Full Article (PDF, 415 KB)
Citation: Becker, J. M. and Bercovici, D.: Permanent bedforms in a theoretical model of wave-sea-bed interactions, Nonlin. Processes Geophys., 7, 31-35, 2000. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager
