Bridge-piling modifications on the momentum balance in an estuary: The role of tides, winds and seasonality
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
Elsevier
Materia
Bridge-pile Momentum balance Wake Numerical model Basin
Date
2023-01-21Referencia bibliográfica
Carmen Zarzuelo... [et al.]. Bridge-piling modifications on the momentum balance in an estuary: The role of tides, winds and seasonality, Ocean Engineering, Volume 271, 2023, 113746, ISSN 0029-8018, [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2023.113746]
Sponsorship
Spanish Government CTM2017-89531-R PID2021-125895OA-I00; Department of Economy, Knowledge, Business and Universities of the Andalusian Regional Government A-TEP-88-UGR20Abstract
Marine structures modify the hydrodynamics in relatively shallow coastal areas such as bays and estuaries, as
analyzed here in the Bay of Cádiz. This study explores the momentum balance and the wakes generated by
bridge piles, through a validated numerical model of a well-mixed mesotidal estuary. Three main drivers are
considered: tides, winds and buoyancy forcing. The results show that the contribution of advection has the
same order of magnitude as that of the barotropicity, with baroclinicity being relevant only during summer.
The effects of the pile are intensified inside the basin (i.e., the bay) during spring-tides and ebb periods, and
outside the bay during neap-tides and flood periods. These changes in the momentum balance reach up to
1 km landward in the deepest areas and up to 2 km seaward in the shallowest areas. The momentum terms
vary the most in spring and summer, when wind forcing is weak. Westerly winds coinciding with flood-tide
periods increase the advection in the outer basin, because of the pile. In contrast, easterly winds coinciding
with the ebbing tides intensify the advection in the inner basin. Results can be extrapolated to other study
sites with similar human interventions such as wind or wave energy converters.