Measured and predicted rates of sediment transport in storm conditions

Owing to difficulties in obtaining measurements and to the vagaries of the weather at sea, few field data exist pertaining to sediment mobilisation an d transport in storm conditions. Consequently, empirical formulae widely us ed to predict sediment transport in marine environments remain largely unte sted in extreme conditions. In the present paper, bedload transport rates e stimated from measured rates of bedform migration and measured rates of sus pended sediment transport have been compared with predictions from various empirical formulae. Rates of bedload transport inferred from measured rates of ripple migration are found to compare favourably with previous observat ions and with empirical predictions obtained using the Bijker formula. Meas ured rates of total sediment transport are found to agree well with predict ions from the Soulsby formula. Results show that these formulae are able to predict accurately marine sediment transport in combined wave-current cond itions during a storm. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.