Estuarine Modelling

Gold Coast estuarine modelling study

Coastal waterways and estuaries are highly dynamic systems. Effective management and planning requires an understanding of the tidal flow characteristics and associated water quality and sediment transport dynamics. A major research program is being developed examining these characteristics using state-of- the-art computational models in partnership with international collaborators.

The Gold Coast Estuarine Modelling Study (formerly called the Broadwater Study) was established to assist Gold Coast City Council in achieving ecological sustainability for the Gold Coast Broadwater and ensure that Council has an adequate understanding of Broadwater processes to ensure efficient management of the area to protect its natural assets.

In 2006 the Second Phase of this project commenced, investigating methods to incorporate water quality and sediment transport capability into the Dutch Hydraulics Insitute's flex-mesh modeling framework, and to interface this with the various models of the tributary system previously developed by Gold Coast City Council.

The outcome of this project will be a calibrated and verified model covering the Gold Coast Broadwater and adjacent tidal systems.

Water quality monitoring

A number of student projects have been undertaken applying software designed to assess water quality in urban catchments. These models include the MUSIC (Model for Urban Stormwater Improvement Conceptualisation) software released by the Catchment Hydrology Cooperative Research Centre as a decision support tools for the design of stormwater quality improvement devices, the AQUALM catchment load model and the Resource Management Association hydrodynamic model which has been applied to point discharges in canals and waterways and to the re-suspension of bed sediments in the Broadwater. One-dimensional hydrodynamic modelling using MIKE-11 has also been undertaken for all of the tributary streams flowing into the Broadwater.