Brief description of the project
The main concern of the present project gravitates around the processes underlying the dispersal of buoyant particles caused by non-breaking progressive wind-waves. When waves approach the coast over relatively shallow water, they strongly interact with the bottom possibly causing the mixing and the transport of the bottom material. The necessity of predicting mixing and transport phenomena arose in different scientific communities: while the erosion and transport of sediments can seriously affect the efficiency of maritime activities, nutrients and organic pollutants (e.g. micro-plastic particles), as well as biological material (harmful micro-algae, pathogens) dispersed in water, can threaten the human health.
The project consists of the numerical modelling of the Lagrangian transport of solid particles with the aid of direct numerical simulations, which require the support of high performance computing centres, and possibly of laboratory experiments. The investigation is aimed at identifying and quantifying the interaction between the wave flow and the bottom leading to wave attenuation and to development of steady currents which are responsible of significant shoreward mass transport. Improving the capability of predicting such mass transport is the main goal the project.