In: Proceedings Coastal Sediments '03. 2003. CD-ROM Published by World Scientific Publishing
Corp. and East Meets West Productions, Corpus Christi, Texas, USA. ISBN 981-238-422-7.
tide range values ranging from 10% of the sea tide range outside the inlet and greater. It seems
intuitively correct in that, for inlets with a greater volume of water passing through in a given time
period (the tidal cycle), the inlet channel will be larger. A full bay should supply greater flow power
through the inlet. However, in practice, many inlets with bays that do not fill appreciably have
maintained a fairly constant channel flow area over many years and do not have bays that fill
completely. Important questions are, "are these inlet systems in equilibrium?" "will the entrance
channel fail to enlarge?," or "will there be an eventual change over a long period?," or "could there
be the possibility of a sudden scour and enlargement of the channel?" The Escoffier approach
indicates the entrance channel eventually enlarges until the bay fills completely; field evidence shows
inlets with apparent stable channel cross-section areas existing with bays that are not completely
filling. The next section will examine some other approaches or hypotheses to determine if or how
inlets can have equilibrium channels with bays that do not fill.
Unstable equilibrium point
Stable equilibrium point
Equilibrium velocity curve
Inlet maximum velocity curve
Figure 1. Escoffier's solution for an inlet's stable equilibrium area
Seabergh
2
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