CURRENT PROFILE ANALYSIS

Arinka Aninditya
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Technology, Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia
arinka.aninditya@students.itb.ac.id
The flood and ebb that happens alongshore can cause to tidal currents. These currents have different speed and direction
for each layer. Currents flow faster in layers near the surface and decrease logarithmically when approaching the seabed
because of friction, and at the same time apply shear stress to the seabed. It is the primary cause of sediment transport
along the seabed, and any observation about it can be the prediction of sediment transport along coastal region since
coasts and areas with large tidal ranges, tidal currents may be strong enough to transport sediment [Arnott, 2010].
From the concept, variation of current speed can be calculated and modelled. Later on, it can be used to determine the
shear stress working on the seabed. The equation to determine current speed is shown below:

u z=

U
U
ln ( z ) ln ( z 0)

(1)

where u z is speed in m/s, U is shear velocity in m/s, is Karmans constant equal to 0.4, z0 is height in
meter when the speed is 0 m/s, and z is the height in meter when there is a speed working on it. After that, shear stress
can be calculated with:
2

b = u

(2)

where b = shear stress and = water density. Also verify that the depth averaged speed of current () is equal
to speed at 40% of water column height. Let the uz becomes y, u*/ becomes A, ln(z) becomes x, and u*/ ln(z0) becomes
B so equation (1) can be expressed as linear regression equation:

y= Ax+ B

(3)

where y is dependent variable, x is independent variable, A is slope, and B is intercept. Once U* and z0 are known,
compare the theoretical current profile from Equation 1 with current profile from observation. After all of the calculation
is done, plot the value from currentprofile.dat and tidalstream.dat to analyze the relation of variation of shear
velocity with tide. Data used is from June 24 th, 2009 at 4:00 and 22:00. The graphic from Microsoft Excel is shown in
Figure 1 below.
30
30
Height (m)

20
Theoretical Profile
10

Height (m)

0
0.4 0.6
0.8 1 1.2 1.4
Actual
Profile
Current (m/s)

30
20
Height (m)

10

Theoretical Profile

Actual Profile

0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Current (m/s)

20
Theoretical Profile
10
0
0.2 Profile
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Actual
Current (m/s)

(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 1. Theoretical and Actual Current Profiles from currentprofile.dat (a), June 24th, 2009 at 4:00 (b), and June 24th,
2009 at 22:00 (c) from tidalstream.dat.
From Figure 1 (a), equation (1) can be used to represent logarithmic variation from current observation. Figure 1 (b) and
(c) show that shear velocity is slower when flood and vice versa due to turning flow from water from flood to ebb.
Depth-averaged speed of current () is nearly equal to velocity at 40% height from seabed (u 8), which = 1.03 m/s and
u8= 1.02 m/s. Know that water density is 1027 kg/m 3, shear stress (b) from 4:00 is 6.3 kg/ms 2 and from 22:00 is 1.2
kg/ms2, it is bigger during the ebb. So it can be concluded that tidal currents can cause the sediment transported by the
water flow.
Reference:
Arnott, R.D. (2010). Introduction to Coastal Process and Geomorphology. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge,
UK. 135pp.