Sediment transport module for a B-grid coastal shelf ocean model

We present a three-dimensional sediment transport model implemented within the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean System (POLCOMS). An unlimited number of sediment classes can be transported both as suspended load and bed load. Suspended sediment concentration is calculated following advection-diffusion schemes similar to those used for other scalar quantities. The location of the sediment bed is obtained from near-bed sediment mass conversion and the sediment bed is represented in the model by a layered structure. The ability to reproduce suspended concentration profiles and morphological evolution for a simple case is tested against laboratory experiments of trench migration in a flume.