Figure 1. Escoffier's solution for an inlet's stable equilibrium area

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LONG-TERM COASTAL INLET CHANNEL AREA STABILITY

OTHER INLET EQUILIBRIM APPROACHES

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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

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