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The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel

I. Fairley, R. Ahmadian, R.A. Falconer, M.R. Willis, I. Masters, Ian Masters Orcid Logo

Renewable Energy, Volume: 68, Pages: 428 - 442

Swansea University Author: Ian Masters Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.renene.2014.02.023

Abstract

The study investigates the impact that construction of a Severn Barrage in the Severn Estuary, on the west coast of the UK, might have on local wave conditions. Implementation of a barrage will impact on tidal currents and water elevations in the wider region. There is strong tidal modulation of wav...

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Published in: Renewable Energy
ISSN: 0960-1481
Published: 2014
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa20864
first_indexed 2015-04-25T02:08:17Z
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spelling 2019-09-09T11:29:55.9656188 v2 20864 2015-04-24 The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel 6fa19551092853928cde0e6d5fac48a1 0000-0001-7667-6670 Ian Masters Ian Masters true false 2015-04-24 ACEM The study investigates the impact that construction of a Severn Barrage in the Severn Estuary, on the west coast of the UK, might have on local wave conditions. Implementation of a barrage will impact on tidal currents and water elevations in the wider region. There is strong tidal modulation of wave conditions under the natural regime and therefore barrage-induced changes to tidal conditions could affect wave modulation in the region. This paper uses Swan, an open source 3rd generation spectral wave model, to investigate the possible impacts of construction of a barrage on tidal modulation of the wave conditions. It is found that current variations, rather than water level variations, are the dominant factor in tidal modulation of wave conditions. Barrage implementation does not substantially change the modulation of the wave period or direction. However, barrage implementation does affect the tidal modulation of wave heights in the area of interest. The tidal modulation of the wave heights is generally reduced compared to the natural case; the peaks in the wave heights on an incoming tide are slightly lowered and there is lesser attenuation in wave heights on the outgoing tide. This modulation leads to net changes in the wave heights over one tidal cycle. For all of the tested wave conditions, this net change is small for the majority of the tested domain, namely to within ±5% of the no barrage case. There are some areas of greater change, most notably larger net increases in the wave heights near the North Somerset coast where the post-construction net wave height increase over a tidal cycle approach 20% of the pre-construction conditions. These changes do not impact coastal flooding because the wave height increase is not co-incident with high tide. Importantly, the maximum wave height is not increased and thus the likelihood of extreme events is not increased. The area of greatest reduction is between Swansea and Porthcawl. Changes over a neap tidal cycle show similar patterns of net change, but the modulation over the tidal cycle is different; primarily the magnitude of modulation is half that for the spring tide case and the shape is altered in some locations. Journal Article Renewable Energy 68 428 442 0960-1481 31 8 2014 2014-08-31 10.1016/j.renene.2014.02.023 COLLEGE NANME Aerospace, Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering COLLEGE CODE ACEM Swansea University 2019-09-09T11:29:55.9656188 2015-04-24T12:46:51.6080412 I. Fairley 1 R. Ahmadian 2 R.A. Falconer 3 M.R. Willis 4 I. Masters 5 Ian Masters 0000-0001-7667-6670 6 0020864-08052015103116.pdf Fairley_RenewEn_2014_preprint_wavesBarrage.pdf 2015-05-08T10:31:16.2630000 Output 1022263 application/pdf Author's Original true 2015-05-08T00:00:00.0000000 false
title The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel
spellingShingle The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel
Ian Masters
title_short The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel
title_full The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel
title_fullStr The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel
title_full_unstemmed The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel
title_sort The effects of a Severn Barrage on wave conditions in the Bristol Channel
author_id_str_mv 6fa19551092853928cde0e6d5fac48a1
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6fa19551092853928cde0e6d5fac48a1_***_Ian Masters
author Ian Masters
author2 I. Fairley
R. Ahmadian
R.A. Falconer
M.R. Willis
I. Masters
Ian Masters
format Journal article
container_title Renewable Energy
container_volume 68
container_start_page 428
publishDate 2014
institution Swansea University
issn 0960-1481
doi_str_mv 10.1016/j.renene.2014.02.023
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description The study investigates the impact that construction of a Severn Barrage in the Severn Estuary, on the west coast of the UK, might have on local wave conditions. Implementation of a barrage will impact on tidal currents and water elevations in the wider region. There is strong tidal modulation of wave conditions under the natural regime and therefore barrage-induced changes to tidal conditions could affect wave modulation in the region. This paper uses Swan, an open source 3rd generation spectral wave model, to investigate the possible impacts of construction of a barrage on tidal modulation of the wave conditions. It is found that current variations, rather than water level variations, are the dominant factor in tidal modulation of wave conditions. Barrage implementation does not substantially change the modulation of the wave period or direction. However, barrage implementation does affect the tidal modulation of wave heights in the area of interest. The tidal modulation of the wave heights is generally reduced compared to the natural case; the peaks in the wave heights on an incoming tide are slightly lowered and there is lesser attenuation in wave heights on the outgoing tide. This modulation leads to net changes in the wave heights over one tidal cycle. For all of the tested wave conditions, this net change is small for the majority of the tested domain, namely to within ±5% of the no barrage case. There are some areas of greater change, most notably larger net increases in the wave heights near the North Somerset coast where the post-construction net wave height increase over a tidal cycle approach 20% of the pre-construction conditions. These changes do not impact coastal flooding because the wave height increase is not co-incident with high tide. Importantly, the maximum wave height is not increased and thus the likelihood of extreme events is not increased. The area of greatest reduction is between Swansea and Porthcawl. Changes over a neap tidal cycle show similar patterns of net change, but the modulation over the tidal cycle is different; primarily the magnitude of modulation is half that for the spring tide case and the shape is altered in some locations.
published_date 2014-08-31T06:42:44Z
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