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A. Chu

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4 records found

Journal article (2021) - Wei-lun Chen, Yu-liang Zhu, Jun Kong, Ao Chu, Wei-sheng Zhang
The tide-induced net advective salt flux in well-mixed estuaries consists of five terms according to the method from Kjerfve. The term resulted from the vertical variation in salinity can be negligible in well-mixed estuaries with four tide-induced salt flux terms, known as F1-F4. To explore the effects of wind on these salt fluxes, the current-salinity analytical model combined with the perturbation analysis is extended by including wind. Analytical expressions for the four salt fluxes are derived separately in the present model. Under the assumption that only the M2 tidal component is accounted for and the salt flux generated by diffusion is not studied, the tide-induced net advective salt flux Qsx is in the seaward direction without the wind effect. By applying the Western Scheldt estuary case, the wind influence on the tidal advection salt flux (TASF) distribution in the F4 term was investigated. The phase difference between zero-order velocity and first-order salinity (Δϕ) at the surface layer of the estuary is larger than 90° and smaller than 90° at the bottom layer, which leads to landward TASF in the surface layer and seaward TASF in the bottom layer. The distribution of Δϕ is not uniform in the horizontal direction with wind included, which differs from the result without wind. In the case of seaward wind with the speed of 18 m/s, the decrease in the zeroth-order velocity phase (ϕu) at the surface layer is larger than that of the first-order salinity phase (ϕs) downstream, which leads to an abnormal seaward TASF in this region. Owing to the surface stress caused by wind, the Stokes compensation flow in the middle and lower reaches increases/decreases with the increase of the landward/seaward wind, while the upstream situation is opposite. Thus, the first-order velocity in the middle and lower reaches increases/decreases with the increase of the landward/seaward wind, while the upstream situation is also opposite. The first-order salinity also increases/decreases with the increase of landward/seaward wind, while the upstream salinity tends to zero. Therefore, the tide-induced net advective salt flux Qsx increases/decreases with the increase of the landward/seaward wind, which is contrary to the usual recognition. ...
Conference paper (2020) - Yi Xu, Ao Chu, Yongping Chen
In coastal seas and estuaries, the presence of periodic forces, e.g. tides, results in the fluctuation of sediment transports. Therefore, the study of residual sediment transport in a tidal environment is more practical rather than sediment transport itself. Based on the assumption that sediment transport is proportional to an exponential power of current velocity (u5), a simplified analytical expression is derived for residual total load sediment transport in a tidal environment. The tidal current is represented by tidal current constituent series of M0, M2, S2, N2, M4, MS4, MN4, M6, K1 and O1. The expression can be adapted to quantify the sediment transport in areas with significant residual current and diurnal tidal regimes. ...
Doctoral thesis (2019) - Ao Chu
The flow and sediment transport in the Yangtze Estuary are intrinsically complex because various processes and mechanisms are involved on a large range of temporal and spatial scales. In this thesis the interaction of river discharge and tidal wave with the corresponding sediment transport in the Yangtze Estuary is investigated. The objective is to gain further understanding of the processes and mechanisms dominating the sediment transport in the estuary. Based on the understanding of flow and sediment transport, a morphodynamic model is established and tested to simulate the morphological change of the Yangtze Estuary. Supported by a literature survey reviewing previous studies, the observed data (including water levels, currents, salinity, sediment concentration, sediment samples, etc.) at various stations under different conditions (spring/neap tide, dry/wet season, etc.) are first analyzed to investigate the characteristics of flow and sediment transport in the Yangtze Estuary. Subsequently, a process-based model based on Delft3D is set up for the estuary. After being calibrated and validated against measurements under various conditions, the model is used to simulate the sediment transport at the mouth bar of the Yangtze Estuary. Scenarios of model simulations are designed to account for different combinations of processes and mechanisms contributing to sediment transport. The results demonstrate that taking salinity processes into consideration is a prerequisite to understand how fine sediment has been trapped in the mouth bar area of the Yangtze Estuary in the last half century. It is also concluded that flocculation of fine-grained sediment in suspension enhances the sediment deposition in the mouth bar area. The net effect of all sediment transport processes is typical sedimentation in the wet season and erosion in the dry season, with net deposition annually. A decreasing trend in the annual net deposition has recently become visible. The deposition rate at present is down to 1/3 of the magnitude in the past. ...
Journal article (2018) - Ao Chu, Zhengbing Wang, H. J. De Vriend, Jiaai Tai
Model input reduction and morphological acceleration techniques to bridge the large time scale of morphological evolution and the small time scale of hydrodynamically driven sediment transport is investigated for the Yangtze Estuary morphodynamic model. The discharge series of the river is schematized into a set of multi-discharge levels. Each discharge level coupled with the spring-neap tide forms one morphodynamic model for the estuary with bed stratigraphy approach applied. These models are used to simulate the bathymetry change of the estuary in parallel with the results merged together base on the Mor-Merge (MM) method. The morphological factor is used to accelerate the bathymetry change during hydrodynamic simulation. The modelled bathymetry change based on MM method is compared with the Quasi Real Time (QRT) simulation result. It shows that the results of the MM model with more discharge levels correlate more significantly with that of the QRT model. Therefore, the MM approach with multi discharges, which achieves an acceptable acceleration for morphological change, results in the feasibility of the medium term morphodynamic model of the Yangtze Estuary. ...