Field Data on Seaward Limit of Profile Change

Many coastal engineering problems require an estimate of the seaward limit of sediment transport, defined as the minimum depth at which no measurable change in water depth occurs. A procedure to estimate this limit depth was evaluated using measurements collected at the Coastal Engineering Research Center's Field Research Facility located on the Atlantic Ocean. The data consisted of measured wave characteristics and accurate repetitive nearshore surveys which extended out to a depth of 30 ft (9 m). Ten unique data points were used in the evaluation with measured limit depths ranging from 18 to 21 (3.9 to 6.4 m). These depths were overpredicted by an average of 4.6 ft (1.4 m). This difference could be reduced to 1.3 ft (0.4 m) by adjusting the coefficients in the equation. A reasonable correlation was also obtained using a simple multiple of wave height.