Search Menu
School of Engineering

Sediment dynamics

Sediment dynamics

Vladimir Nikora, Stuart Cameron, Dubravka Pokrajac, Tom O'Donoghue, Dominic van der A, Zaibin Lin

The group’s research focusses on the mechanics of fluid-sediment interactions and transport in unidirectional and oscillatory flows and covers a range of scales and processes from the pick-up of an individual sediment particle, the dynamics of bed forms such as ripples on the seabed or dunes in rivers, to the development of an entire cross-shore beach profile. Scour and liquefaction around offshore structures and sediment transport within vegetation canopies are active topics that closely overlap with other research areas in the group. The research is supported by large-scale experimental faciltiies in our Fluid Mechanics Laboratory and advanced multi-phase Computational Fluid Dynamics tools. Our research in coastal sediment transport has led to the development of the SANTOSS sediment transport formula which is incoporated in large scale coastal moprhodynamic models such as Delft3D, COAWST and CROCO. 

Recent external projects

2023-2025 Behaviour and transport of industrial particles in sand beds mobilised by waves, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, National Decommissioning Centre (D. van der A, T. O'Donoghue, J. Derksen, £288k) with partners NDA-Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd, NDA-Sellafield Ltd, University of Highlands and Islands - Environmental Research Institute, HR Wallingford Ltd.
2018-2022 Bed shear stress under sea waves. Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, UK (Dunbar, D, van der A, D.A, O’Donoghue, T., Scandura, P. PhD studentship Danny Dunbar)
2018-2019 Sediment transport dynamics in vegetated canopies under full-scale wave conditions, Carnegie Trust Research Incentive Grant, UK (van der A, D., £7.1k).
2015-2019 HYDRALAB+ Adapting to climate change (EU-H2020), (O'Donoghue, T. £77k)),  part of an EU project with a total project value of 9.9M Euros; coordinated by Deltares, The Netherlands.
2013-2016 Hydrodynamic transport in ecologically critical heterogeneous interfaces - HYTECH, European Commission, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Initial Training Network Grant, €597K. Aberdeen part of a collaborative program that also involves CNRS-France, Netherlands Royal Institute for Sea Research, and Universities of Bradford, Braunschweig, Milano, and Padova. 
2012-2016 Sand transport induced by Irregular and Breaking Wave Conditions (SINBAD), EPSRC, UK (O’Donoghue, T & van der A, DA, £606k), collaborative project with University of Twente, Netherlands, funded by STW
2010-2014 High resolution numerical and experimental studies of turbulence-induced sediment erosion and near-bed transport, EPSRC, UK (Nikora, V., £439K), collaborative porject with Universities of Karlsruhe and Dresden, funded by DFG.

Recent PhD projects

2019 - present Andrew Smerdon The Disbelief of Suspension: Extracting the Truth from Acoustic Backscatter
2021 Dr Davide Boscia Dynamics and transport of sand mixtures in oscillatory flows
2017 Dr Konstantinos Papadopoulos Theoretical frameworks for the upscaling of physical interactions in aquatic mobile-boundary flows
2016  Dr Mahesa Bhawanin Hydrodynamics and sand transport under regular and
amplitude-modulated oscillatory flows
2015 Dr Matthew Witz Mechanics of particle entrainment in turbulent open-channel flows

Selected publications

  • Zheng, P., Gumbira, G., Li, M., van der Zanden, J., van der A, D.A., van der Werf, J.J., Chen, X., Tang, X. (2023). Development, calibration and validation of a phase-averaged model for cross-shore sediment transport and morphodynamics on a barred beach. Continental Shelf Research, 104989.
  • Larsen, B.E., van der A, D.A., Carstensen, R., Carstensen, S., Fuhrman, D.R. (2023). Experimental investigation on the effect of position and timing of shoreface nourishments. Coastal Engineering, 180, 104258
  • Cáceres, I., Alsina, J., van der Zanden, J., van der A, D.A., Ribberink, J.S., Sánchez-Arcilla, A. (2020). The effect of air bubbles on optical backscatter sensor measurements under plunging breaking waves. Coastal Engineering, 159, 103721
  • Cameron, S., Nikora, V., Witz, M. (2020) Entrainment of sediment particles by very-large-scale motions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 888, A7
  • Papadopoulos, K., Nikora, V., Cameron, S., Stewart, M., Gibbins, C. (2020) Spatially averaged flows over mobile rough beds: Equations for the second-order velocity moments. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 58(1), 133-151. 
  • Papadopoulos, K., Nikora, V, Vowinckel, B., Cameron, S., Jain, R., Stewart, M., Gibbins, C., Fröhlich, J. (2019) Double-averaged kinetic energy budgets in flows over mobile granular beds: insights from DNS data analysis. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 58(4), 653-672.
  • van der Zanden, J., van der A, D.A., Thorne, P. D., Cáceres, I., O’Donoghue T., Ribberink, J.S. (2019). Sand suspension and net transport by wave groups and equivalent monochromatic waves. Continental Shelf Research, 179, 85–104.
  • Witz, M., Cameron, S., Nikora, V. (2019) Bed particle dynamics at entrainment. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 57(4), 464-474.
  • Fromant, G., Hurther, D., van der Zanden, J., van der A, D.A., Cáceres, I., O’Donoghue, T., Ribberink, J.S. (2019) Wave boundary layer hydrodynamics and sheet-flow properties under large-scale plunging-type breaking waves, Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans, 124, 75–98.
  • Cameron, S., Nikora, V., Marusic. I. (2019) Drag forces on a bed particle in open-channel flow: Effects of pressure spatial fluctuations and very large scale motions. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 863, 494-512.
  • Leonardi, A., Pokrajac, D., Roman, F., Zanello, F., Armenio, V. (2018) Surface and subsurface contributions to the build-up of forces on bed particles. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 851, 558-572 
  • van der Zanden, J., van der A, D.A., Hurther, D., Cáceres, I., O’Donoghue, T., Hulscher, S.J.M.H., Ribberink, J.S. (2017). Bedload and suspended load contributions to the morphodynamics of a large-scale laboratory breaker bar. Coastal Engineering, 129, 74–92.
  • Vowinckel, B., Nikora, V., Kempe, T. Fröhlich, J. (2017) Spatially-averaged momentum fluxes and stresses in flows over mobile granular beds: a DNS-based study. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 55(2), 208-223.
  • Vowinckel, B., Nikora, V., Kempe, T. Fröhlich, J. (2017) Momentum balance in flows over mobile granular beds: application of double-averaging methodology to DNS data. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 55(2), 190-207.
  • Amir, M., Nikora, V., Witz, M. (2017) A novel experimental technique and its application to study the effects of particle density and flow submergence on bed particle saltation. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 55(1), 101-113.
  • van der Zanden, J., van der A, D.A., Hurther, D., Cáceres, I., O’Donoghue, T., Ribberink, J.S. (2016). Suspended sediment transport around a large-scale laboratory breaker bar. Coastal Engineering, 125, 51–69.
  • Amir, M., Nikora, V., Stewart, M. (2014) Pressure forces on sediment particles in turbulent open-channel flow: a laboratory study. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 757, 458-497.
  • van der A, D.A., Ribberink, J.S., van der Werf, J.J., O’Donoghue, T., Buijsrogge, R.H., Kranenburg, W.M. (2013). Practical sand transport formula for non-breaking waves and currents, Coastal Engineering, 76, 26-42.
  • Nikora, V., Ballio, F., Coleman, S.E., Pokrajac, D. (2013) Spatially-averaged flows over mobile rough beds: definitions, averaging theorems, and conservation equations. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 139(8), 803-811.