Integrated littoral processes and coastline kinetics modelling

Simulate the evolution of coastlines affected by structures, sediment sources and climate changes to support the design and evaluation of coastal management and optimisation schemes with this integrated modelling system

Why LITPACK?

Simulate a wide range of wave and current scenarios along straight or nearly straight coastlines

LITPACK enables users to develop a greater understanding of hydrodynamic conditions and sediment transport across a profile as well as the integrated littoral drift rates. You can determine the net/gross littoral climate taking into account variation on the hydrodynamic climate (e.g. the yearly wave, tide, storm surge and profile conditions) by accurately calculating wave propagation towards the coast and related wave-driven currents as well as longshore transport.

Analyse the sediment budget to support coastline management strategies

With LITPACK, users gain detailed knowledge of the physical processes controlling the transport and sedimentation of beach materials. This critical information can be used to support the design and implementation of coastline management strategies, locally as well as regionally. Perform more accurate sediment budget analyses, of paramount importance for coastal morphology studies, with this powerful tool.

Predict coastal evolution to evaluate designs and types of coastal construction

Model coastal evolution and analyse the effects of construction using several different profiles in the longshore direction and various coastal structures such as groynes, revetments, jetties and off-shore breakwaters to support the planning process.

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Example of simulated shoreline evolution

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Illustration of transport conditions varying over time

Carry out preliminary investigations before setting up a 2D Shoreline Morphology model

Couple LITPACK with the MIKE 21 Shoreline Morphology model which excels in cases where 2D effects are important. Optimise 2D model setup by running the faster LITPACK extensively in the beginning of your project to understand year-to-year/seasonal variations, cross-shore distribution of the transport, active height and the sensitivity of transport, and changes in shoreline orientation.

LITPACK is a powerful tool for many coastal applications

Coastal Development

Analyse the impact of coastal works on coastline dynamics. Evaluate different designs and types of coastal construction including groynes, revetments, harbours and breakwaters.

Coastal Protection

Optimise beach redevelopment plans, including artificial nourishment. Design and evaluate coastal protection schemes. Execute morphological baseline studies.

Port Design

Investigate the cause of harbour siltation and intake problems by evaluating the blocking effect of littoral drift.

No in-house modellers?

Get our expert modellers on board for your consulting projects either as a partner, to provide extended user support or for model and project reviews.

Featured software subscription package

Coastal Engineering

This affordable subscription package features some of our best applications to support coastal engineering studies including LITPACK, MIKE 21/3 Sand Transport, MIKE 21 Spectral Waves and more!

Additional capabilities & unique features

MIKE Zero, DHI’s fully Windows integrated graphical user interface, is now better than ever! Enjoy easy access to new MIKE Cloud applications and Cloud-enhanced functionality, plus an extended set of MIKE tools within theme-based (rather than product-based) interactive workflows. Ensure important model components such as sources and structures stay at the forefront with a new interactive, customisable floating mapping window. Lastly, the updated tabbing functionality will help you work in a more organised and efficient manner.

You can now access LITPACK on Azure Marketplace, where you can start modelling in the cloud with no hardware limitation in four simple steps. Learn more

The core of LITPACK (Littoral Processes and Coastline Kinetics) is the sediment transport model – a deterministic description of non-cohesive sediment transport in a single point. This enables users to accurately calculate littoral drift for a varying cross-shore profile with spatially varying grain diameters, using the actual wave and current climate.

Perform detailed calculations of sediment transport from combined wave and current action for all modules in Littoral Processes FM with the Transport in Point module. This ‘intra-wave period’ sediment transport model solves the vertical sediment diffusion equation on an intra-wave period grid, enabling users to output internal calculation parameters within one wave period in addition to bed load and suspended load in two directions.

Gain insight on hydrodynamic conditions and sediment transport across the profile as well as integrated littoral drift rates for an individual wave event with the Littoral Drift module. Important effects such as the linking of the profile to the wave propagation, the wave climate to the storm surge and the variation in sediment properties across the profile are included. Use this information to optimise larger and more time-consuming models in 2D.

With the Table Generation module, users can generate up to eight profiles in the longshore direction. Define transport rates by interpolation in pre-generated littoral drift transport tables rather than by calculating the instant littoral drift for each location of the coastline. These tables offer numerous littoral transport rates for an envelope of hydrodynamic conditions and are generated by successive calls to the littoral transport engine.

Gain insight on the distance from the baseline to the coastline, the local littoral drift rates and accumulated transport along the coastline with the Coastline Evolution module. This module is based on a one-line theory, in which the cross-shore profile is assumed to remain unchanged during erosion/accretion. Thus, the coastal morphology is solely described by the coastline position (cross-shore direction) and eventual changes of dune geometry at a given long-shore position.

The Transport in Point module enables users to accurately calculate the time-varying water surface and orbital velocities from various wave theories. In shallow water, the wave motion becomes non-linear, e.g. the velocities under the wave crest are higher than under the wave trough, an important phenomenon in the calculation of cross-shore sediment transport.

The productivity tools included in the LITPACK Toolbox such as graphical editors and animated presentation of results make modelling a breeze. Users can also:

      • Perform a scatter analysis of time series data with the Scatter Diagram
      • Accurately describe cross-shore profile changes based on a time series of wave events using the Profile Evaluation Tool
      • Calculate and tabulate transport rates for an envelope of the hydrodynamic conditions with the Table Generator Tool

Simplify the tasks of data input, analysis and presentation of simulation results through the integrated work environment provided by the same Pre-processing and Post-processing (PP) module as MIKE 21 and MIKE 3. Plus, if you already have MIKE 21 or MIKE 3 on the same installation, you do not need an additional PP module for LITPACK.

Feel confident you can undertake complex studies in a safe and productive manner as LITPACK combines unique expert knowledge about physical processes within waves, currents and sediment transport with an efficient user interface and numerical simulations.

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