EFFECT OF SEDIMENT POROSITY, GENERAL ALONGSHORE, WIND AND FALL VELOCITY ON LITTORAL DRIFT AT SOUTHWEST COAST OF CASPIAN SEA

Pare-Sar power-plant is located on the southwest coast of Caspian Sea (Figure 1). Its intake basin (for cooling water) has been constructed on 2007. Longshore sediment bypassing started after 5 years, and caused deposition at the entrance. Based on the initial estimations, it was expected that sediment bypass would not be started before 2027. The difference is too large to be addressed just by a calibration factor. The estimated value was based on usual engineering algorithms, including substantial numerical models, engineering formula and field measurements. Figure 2 illustrates the offshore wave rose in the area. This study addresses the main factors which have caused so much difference between the calculated and the actual littoral drift. Several factors have been studied, including sediment porosity, general alongshore velocity out of the surf-zone, accuracy of the wave data, wind speed and fall velocity. The sediment in the area is a mixture of sand and chip (wood). There are few available papers that address the mentioned factors in the literature. For example see Farhadzadeh, 2012 [1], Noble, 2015 [2] and Schoen, 2014 [3].