A MULTILAYER FINITE-ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR SUSPENDED SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN TIDAL FLOWS

This paper describes the formulation and verification of a newly devel oped three dimensional sediment transport model for coastal waters. Th e multi-layer finite element method (Kawahara et al., 1978 and Li and Zhan, 1993) has been adopted to improve the ability for model boundary adaptation with actual coastal geometry which is essential for accura te sediment transport simulations. The incorporation of laboratory det ermined sediment parametric functions in the model to resolve the sedi ment transport mechanisms such as the bed deformation, sediment entrai nment and deposition, and stratification is also emphasized. The model was applied to compute the suspended sediment conditions for an ideal ized case as well as a practical application in Hong Kong waters. The strong correlation revealed in the comparisons between the computed an d observed results indicates that the present model can serve as an ef fective tool for sediment transport studies on harbor and port develop ment and management.