ABSTRACT

Speakers will discuss a study that aims to characterize the coastal dynamics of the beaches of Badalona and Montgat, near Barcelona, through high-resolution numerical simulations using the SWAN and XBeach models. Various wave climate combinations (directions, significant wave heights, and periods) were analysed to assess sediment transport both in suspension and along the seabed. The results were loaded into a GIS server to calculate the sediment balance of control cells associated with each beach segment up to the closure depth.

The work reveals that preliminary analysis of SWAN results saves significant computation time by allowing errors in the simulations to be identified before running XBeach, which is a longer process. The conclusions highlight that wave climates with long periods and high wave heights push the closure depth further from the coast, and that suspended sediment transport directly depends on wave energy, while bedload transport is influenced by wave height and period.

Additionally, the study identified the most vulnerable areas to erosion and flooding, emphasizing the importance of planning adequate management measures to minimize risks, especially on the beaches of Montgat, which show a higher volume of longitudinal sediment transport. This data is crucial for damage prediction and the implementation of effective protection measures in the studied area. The developed tools, including MATLAB codes, have proven useful in streamlining the necessary adjustments in the simulations, providing a robust methodology for the sustainable management of coastal areas.

SPEAKERS CV

Elena Ivars Folch is an Environmental Engineering student at Escola de Camins, UPC. Currently, she is doing her TFG in sediment transport in the beaches in Badalona and Montgat. She focused on analysing the different wave climates and its possible consequences on the coast. Her current research involves using the modelling programs SWAN and XBeach and connect both models through the spectral conditions that result from SWAN.

Lucie François Beaufour is a student of the Master in Civil Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. During her civil engineering degree, she did a four-month mobility at the École des Ponts ParisTech in Paris. Currently, as part of her Master's thesis, she is doing an internship at CIMNE, participating in the PIKSEL challenge 2 project on the evolution of the coastline.