Author(s): Sergio Munoz-Palao; Pilar Diaz-Carrasco; Jorge Molines; M. Esther Gomez-Martin; Josep R. Medina

Linked Author(s): Jorge Molines Llodrá, Maria Esther Gomez-Martin, Josep Ramón Medina Folgado

Keywords: Low-crested structure; HLCS; Cubipod; Laser scanner

Abstract: In order to evaluate the hydraulic performance of breakwaters, mechanical profilers were first used in wave flumes. Vertical bars and rolling wheels have been used to track the breakwater shape. Once surveyed, useful hydraulic parameters were able to be measured (e. g., envelope shape and eroded area). Nevertheless, the methodologies based on mechanical profilers have some limitations: they are intrusive, require specific equipment and are time-consuming. On the other hand, non-intrusive laser scanners can also be used; recent studies proved the feasibility of non-intrusive fast methods of surveying with 3D-scanning, (see Musumeci et al., 2018). These instruments are fast and reliable at capturing the shape of the breakwater in real-time. However, this method did not consider the distortion caused by light refraction. Laser scanners usually require to measure models in dry conditions, which is not efficient in time and resources. Especially for submerged flexible vegetation like seagrass, this challenge is aggravated for airborne methods that require flume drainage (e. g. terrestrial laser scanning) (Follett and Nepf, 2012). Flexible blades will spread on the ground during drainage, potentially covering meadow edges and thus excluding areas of interest from the bed level analysis. Moreover, live aquatic vegetation may be stressed by air exposure, if the facility is drained for bed level measurements. This potentially leads to different, non-natural behaviour in consecutive experiments. And finally, draining and refilling the facility is time consuming, especially as it needs to be done very carefully as not to disturb any generated bedforms. This time aspect hampers the collection of time series and thus the assessment of the development of bed level changes with airborne methods. Underwater technology like sonar and echo sounder avoid shading of areas by spread-out vegetation, but are equally not capable of obtaining data below vegetation canopies. Moreover, instruments that can obtain spatially resolved data underwater often require a minimum water depth which may exceed the water depth relevant for experiments with vegetation. In intertidal areas (e. g. salt marshes) the challenge of obtaining bed level data below vegetation canopies is overcome by the use of a sediment-erosion-bar (SEB) (Cahoon et al., 2002). For this method a horizontal bar is installed at a fixed height above the ground and the distance between this bar and the ground is measured at defined locations along the bar and set time intervals to obtain information on the bed level change. SEBs have successfully been adapted to laboratory settings in the past (Spencer et al., 2016), but still required flume drainage. We applied this method in an undrained flume to assess sediment dynamics in and around an artificial seagrass meadow. Additionally, we tested underwater photogrammetry to obtain 3D-spatial information (e. g., 3D models) on bed level and bedforms at and near the vegetation edges. Photogrammetry has been successfully applied to obtain bedform information in the presence of seagrass stands, but to date still required the drainage of the facility (Meysick et al., 2022).

DOI: https://doi.org/10.59490/coastlab.2024.682

Year: 2024