ABSTRACT
Physical models provide the engineer and scientist two significant advantages when studying a particular coastal engineering problem. The first is that nature is used to integrate the appropriate equations which govern the phenomena, whether it be wave propagation into harbors or sand transport on a beach. The second advantage is that the size of the model is much smaller than the prototype, permitting the easier acquisition of relevant data. Wave propagation over real topography involves numerous processes including refraction, diffraction, shoaling and bottom friction dissipation. The modelling of noncohesive beach materials is not a trivial process. Froude criteria and for which the sediment is reduced somewhat in size from the prototype. The importance of undistorted models for short wave models of refraction and diffraction is presented and a simple model for a movable bed model for beach profile modelling is presented.
