Laboratory study and analysis of the instability of alongshore currents

A laboratory experiment on the instability of alongshore currents was conducted on a plane beach with slope 1:40. Low-frequency fluctuations of alongshore currents with the period of approximately 100 s were observed. The dominant frequency and amplitudes of the oscillations of alongshore currents were determined using the maximum entropy method and the regression method of trigonometric function. The variations across the beach cross-section of the oscillation amplitudes of the alongshore current were given. The linear shear instability theory was used to analyze the mechanism of the oscillation, and the calculated results agreed with measurements. This confirms that the observed fluctuation of alongshore currents is due to the shear instability of alongshore currents.