Abstract
Surf-zone hydrodynamics forced by oblique wave shoaling and breaking on beach slopes were investigated. The results showed that in wave-basin experiments with incident angles in the range of 15°–30°, wave breaking was initiated at a breaker coefficient of around 0.67, which was significantly less than that predicted from empirical relations based on normally incident waves for a given beach slope and deep-water wave steepness. The measurements also showed that subsequent saturated breaking occurred at a breaker coefficient of around 0.47 that was independent of beach slope in the range of 1:10 to 1:100. This result is likely applicable to both oblique and normally incident waves. It is shown that the measured wave heights and longshore velocity profiles in wave-basin studies can be reasonably well predicted by theory with proper adjustments to the process parameters. Best-match formulations were identified for quantifying bottom friction, eddy viscosity, and energy loss due to surface rollers.
