Nonlinear transfer function modelling of beach morphology at Duck, North Carolina

This paper presents a simple nonlinear data-based modelling approach for predicting the beach profile volume at Duck, North Carolina, USA. The state-dependent parameter form of the general transfer function (SDP TF) model is used to describe nonlinearity influencing these morphological data in two case examples. Case 1 investigates the nonlinearity associated with the dependency of wave forcing on the preceding beach volume. Case 2 investigates the ability to model the variables within the well-known diffusion equation for beach volume using this data-based approach. The results of this study show that the SDP TF approach can be used successfully to develop statistically robust models for describing nonlinearity in beach morphological systems. Furthermore, these models are shown to predict the beach volumes over both short (1 month ahead) and long (2 years ahead) time periods, and thus show great potential for practical applications in coastal zone management and engineering.