Headland structural impacts on surf zone current circulations

ABSTRACT Ab Razak, M.S., Dastgheib, A., Suryadi, F.X., Roelvink, D. 2014. Headland structural impacts on surf zone current circulation, Proceedings 13th International Coastal Symposium (Durban, South Africa), Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 70, pp. 065–071, ISSN 0749-0208. The paper presents the morphodynamic investigation of embayed beaches through the impact of structural headlands. An XBeach model was successfully applied to predict the surf zone current pattern and to predict morphological features of three different embayment scales for low-moderate-high wave energy events. The formation of central rip currents in embayed beaches is linked to the presence of a sand bar, while topographical headland rips developed adjacent to the headland boundary are caused by the geological control of the headland structure itself. The effect of moderate and high waves has resulted to a decreased number of central rips in a longer embayment thus limiting the beach circulation to the cellular type. Thi...