ABSTRACT
A respectable amount of information has been accumulated, both from laboratory studies and field measurements, with regard to the nature of beach profile changes and the physical factors that cause the profile changes. The models which deal with onshore-offshore sediment transport and profile changes are not numerous. D. H. Swart developed a transport model which represents movement from the inshore region to the offshore region in a gross sense. Multiple bars can form but correlate poorly with laboratory and natural bar formation. Beach profile change is the result of coastal sediment transport. Depending upon the direction of sediment transport, it is usually designated as alongshore transport and on/offshore transport. For two-dimensional processes, the longshore transport rate is assumed to be constant or zero such that no profile change will result from this component. Based upon laboratory tests, Sunamura proposed an eroding beach model which is almost purely empirical.
