Wave bottom boundary layer processes below irregular surfzone breaking waves with light‐weight sheet flow particle transport

The present work investigates the structure of the near‐bed flow below irregular surfzone breaking waves inducing light‐weight sheet flow particle transport. The experiments are carried out in the LEGI flume under steady equilibrium conditions between the wave forcing and the underlying bed morphology. Synchronized ACVP and video images provide detailed information about the mean wave and current characteristics and the coupled flow regimes across the entire wave breaking region including the outer and the inner surfzones. An analysis of the impact of breaking eddies in the Wave Boundary Layer (WBL) is undertaken at the beginning of the inner surfzone. Subsequently, the intrawave variation of several contributions of the total shearing force per unit area and the net values of the Reynolds stress related to phase‐averaged velocities are analyzed. It is found that − ρ u ∼ w ∼is the dominant term. The turbulent Reynolds stress, the low frequency, and the mean terms are at least 1 order of magnitude lower. Due to the irregular wave forcing, the net values are separated into the net wave‐by‐wave Reynolds stress and the wave Reynolds stress averaged over the entire irregular wave sequence. All these measured bed shear stress terms are then compared to estimations obtained with two different parameterized models in order to evaluate their prediction performances. The values of the model parameters are discussed in comparison to those found in the literature. Finally, the vertical profile of net Reynolds shear stress exhibits a nearly constant value across the sheet‐flow layer.