The Seventh OMISAR Workshop on Ocean Models

Numerical Modeling of Hydrodynamics and

Suspended Sediment Transport in Malacca Strait
Q. Y. Zhang1 and E. S. Chan
Physical Oceanography Research Laboratory
Tropical Marine Science Institute, National University of Singapore
14 Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119223
1
Email:tmszqy@nus.edu.sg

Abstract
A three-dimensional coupled hydrodynamic/suspended sediment transport model for Malaccas
coastal waters has been developed. The hydrodynamic circulation model is based on the
Princeton Ocean Model (POM) and the suspended sediment transport model is developed
under coordinate system. The model considers sediment resuspension, deposition and
transport in the water column. The hydrodynamic/suspended sediment transport model has
been applied to the Malacca and Singapore Straits. The model results show that the predicted
tide elevations and currents are in good agreement with the data published in the Tide Table.
The simulated suspended sediment concentration agrees reasonably with the seaWIFS satellite
data at the same time and the model can reproduce the general pattern of the suspended
sediment distribution in the Straits.
Keywords: modelling; sediment transport; tidal motion; Malacca Strait

1. INTRODUCTION
During the past few decades, the coastal
regions in the Malacca Straits have been
experiencing rapid changes. The Straits of
Malacca and Singapore are situated between the
East Coast of Sumatera Island and the West Coast
of Peninsular Malaysia. The Straits form an
international shipping route linking the Indian
Ocean (via the Andaman Sea) with the South
China Sea to the Pacific Ocean, which is among
the busiest and most important waterways in the
world. Increasing human activity and utilization
of resources such as port development, land
reclamation and construction of marinas and
residential areas have led to a need for a careful
evaluation and prediction of the hydrodynamic
and sediment transport characteristics of the strait
environment. In the past, numerical computations
based on two-dimensional depth-averaged
equations have been used to investigate
suspended sediment transport in Singapore Strait
(Choy, 1989). However, the model is depthaveraged and is only used in Singapore Strait.
Hence, a three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic
and sediment transport model is necessary for a
realistic simulation of the flow and sediment
concentration fields in Malacca and Singapore
Straits waters.

estuarine and coastal areas (Lin and Falconer,

1996; Wai et al., 1996). Van Rijn (1986) and Guo
and Jin (1999) established the combined models
in which the sediment transport is calculated with
a 3D approach and the flow with a depthaveraged approach in combination with the
assumption of a vertical logarithmic velocity
profile, which is valid only for gradually varying
open channel flow. Gessler et al. (1999) and Wu
et al. (2000) used the k turbulence model
and coordinate transformation technique in the 3D
simulations of the flow and sediment transport in
meandering open channels. Later, Lou and
Schwab (2000) developed a quasi-threedimensional suspended sediment model for
southern Lake Michigan, where the suspended
sediment model was developed by introducing an
asymptotic solution to a 2D vertical model for
uniform flow and the POM (Princeton Ocean
Model) circulation model and wind wave model
results were used as hydrodynamic input.
In
this
paper,
a
complete
3D
hydrodynamic/suspended sediment transport
model with orthogonal coordinate in horizontal
and coordinate transformation in vertical was
developed to investigate circulation, sediment
resuspension, deposition and transport in the
water column of the Malacca and Singapore
Straits.

In recent years, several 3D models for water

flow and suspended sediment transport have been
published. The layer-averaged 3D models for
suspended load transport were devised for

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2. MODEL DESCRIPTIONS
The
coupled
hydrodynamic/suspended
sediment modeling system is based on the welltested and extensively used the Princeton Ocean
Model (POM), developed by Blumberg and
Mellor (1987). Detailed description of the original
POM model can be found in the web site of POM
(http://www.aos.princeton.edu/wwwpublic/htd
ocs.pom/). A brief description of the developed
circulation and suspended sediment transport
model is presented below.
Circulation Model
that

The POM is a 3D primitive-equation model

uses
the
sigma
coordinate
= ( z ) / D ] in the vertical direction to

track free water surface and smoothly represent

the bottom topography, the curvilinear orthogonal
coordinate in the horizontal direction to fit
irregular shoreline boundary. Here is the water
elevation of sea surface above the undisturbed
level, D is the total water depth and z is the
distance from mean sea surface. The POM
contains an embedded second moment turbulence
closure submodel to provide vertical mixing
coefficients. The model has a split time step. The
external mode portion of the model is twodimensional and uses a short time step and the
internal mode is three-dimensional and uses a
long time step. In the POM, complete
thermodynamics have been implemented, and the
stratification of salinity and temperature are
considered.
The mass conservation equation for the
internal model used in the POM can be written as:
uD vD
+
+
+
=0
x
y
t

gD2 0 D
K u

d + m
+ F
x 0 x D x
D x
vD uvD v 2 D v
+
+
+
+ fuD =
t
x
y

0 = the reference fluid density; =

respectively;

the fluid density which is the function of

temperature and salinity; g = the gravitational
acceleration; = the elevation of sea surface
above the undisturbed level; D = +H, where H
= the water depth defined by the bottom
topography; t = the time; T = the temperature; S =
the salinity; Fx, Fy, FT and FS = the horizontal
diffusion terms of momentum, temperature and
salinity; KM = the vertical turbulent diffusion
coefficient of momentum modeled according to
the second-order turbulence closure scheme of
Blumberg and Mellor (1987); KH = the vertical
turbulent diffusion coefficient of temperature and
salinity; f = the Coriolis parameter.

The vertically integrated continuity and

momentum equations for the prediction of the
water elevation in the external model can be
written as:
UD
x

VD
y

= 0
t

(6)

UD U 2 D UVD u
+
+
+
fVD =
t
x
y

(7)

gD
D D dd + F + ( sx bx )

x
x 0 1 x
x

2
VD UVD V D
+
+
+ fUD =
t
x
y
0 0
sy by

gD
D
gD

)
D
dd + Fy + (
x 0 1 y
y

gD

(8)

where U and V = the vertically integrated

velocities;

Fx and Fy = the horizontal

sx and sy = the

(1)

turbulence diffusion terms;

(2)

atmospheric wind stress components in x- and ydirections; bx and by = the bottom stress

and the nonlinear momentum equations as:

uD u2 D uvD u
+
+
+
fvD=
t
x
y

Where u,v and = the mean velocity

components in the x-, y- and - directions,

components in x- and y- directions.

gD

gD

(3)

0
gD 2 D
Km v

d +

+ Fy

y 0 y D y
D

The atmospheric wind stress at the surface is

given as:
sx =aCsW10x W102x +W102y and sy = aCsW10y W102x +W102y

(9)

Temperature and salinity transport equations are:

TD TuD TvD T KH T
+
+
+
=
+ FT
t
x
y
D

SD SuD SvD S KH S
+
+
+
=
+ FS
t
x
y
D

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(4)

(5)

C s = the drag coefficient at the airsea interface; W10x and W10y = the wind speed
components in the x and y directions (10 m
where

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above mean sea level);

air.

a = the mass density of

The bottom shear stress is a quadratic

function of the near bottom velocity and can be
written in the following form:

bx =Cbub ub2 +vb2 andby = Cb vb ub2 + vb2 (10)

Cb = the drag coefficient in the

ocean bottom boundary layer; = the water
density; u b and v b = the near bottom velocity
in which

components in x and y directions.

The governing equations (1) to (8) are solved
subject to initial and boundary conditions. The
initial velocities are set to be zero and the initial
water elevation, temperature and salinity are equal
to the mean sea level, temperature and salinity in
the study domain. A slip condition is assumed at
land boundaries. The water elevations and
background temperature and salinity are
prescribed at the open boundaries.
Suspended Sediment Transport Model
The
distribution
of
the
sediment
concentration in water column is governed by the
convection-diffusion equation (Lin and Falconer,
1996; Lou and Schwab, 2000; Wu et al., 2000):
c
c
c
c
+u
+v
+ (w ws )
=
t
x
y
z

(11)

c
y c
z c
+

x y c y z c z

where t = the time; x, y, z = the Cartesian

coordinates; u, v, w = the flow velocity
components in x, y, z directions; x , y and

= the vertical turbulent diffusion

coefficient in direction; Fc = the horizontal
where

z =

the turbulent diffusion coefficients in x, y, z

directions; c = the sediment concentration; ws =
the particle settling velocity in the vertical
direction (z); c = the turbulent Schmidt number
relating the turbulent diffusion of the sediment to
the diffusion of the momentum. A value of c =
1 was used in this model.
In the three-dimensional coordinate system
(x, y, ), the equation (11) can be easily
transformed to:
w c
cD

+ (ucD) + (vcD) +
( s )c =

+F
t x
y

D D c

diffusion term of suspended sediments; D = the

water depth.
The following boundary conditions were
imposed to solve the equation (12): At the free
surface, the vertical sediment flux is zero and
hence the condition applied is

c
+ Dw s c = 0

(13)

At the near bottom,

c
= D( E b Db )

(14)

where Eb = a coefficient describing the

entrainment of bed sediment into suspension due

z ' = b ; Db = the deposition flux

from water column into bed sediment at z ' = b ;
b = the reference height above the bed
to turbulence at

(max(0.01D, k n ); kn = physical bottom roughness

(Nikuradse roughness height). An upwind
advection equation ( c / t + Vnc / n = 0 ,
where V is velocity, n is a unit outward normal to
open boundary) is used on the open boundary
points.
In the suspended sediment transport model,
the near-bed entrainment coefficient at a reference
level, Eb , and sediment settling velocity, ws , for
noncohesive sediments are computed (van Rijn,
1993; Guo, 2002):

E b = w s cb *
c b* = 0 . 015

ws

(15)

d 50 T 1. 5
b D *0. 3

D *3

=
d 50
3 3/2
24 +
D*

(16)

(17)

where D* = particle size parameter

D* = d 50 s 2 g

1/ 3

(18)

and T = non-dimensional excess bed shear stress

T =

u *2 u *2cr
u *2cr

(19)

(12)
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In these relations, d 50 = the median diameter

of the bed material; s = the material density;

= the water density; g = the gravitational

acceleration;

is the kinematic viscosity;

u*cr =

the critical bed shear velocity for sediment motion

given by Shields diagram, u* = the effective bed
shear velocity related to the grain and its apparent
roughness.
When the bed shear velocity ( u* ) is less
than the critical value ( u* cr ), then the sediments
in the water column deposit to the bed according
to the formula:

Db = w s cb

(20)

where Db = the noncohesive sediment

depositional flux; cb = the near-bed suspended

applied to the coastal waters of Malacca and

Singapore Straits. The horizontal model domain
considered here covers an area of 370 km by 300
km, lying in a rectangle approximately defined by
the latitudes 00 59 N to 30 41 N and longitudes
1010 1 E to 1040 19 E. The physical boundary of
the domain is highly irregular together with the
presence of the island groups within the domain.
The water depth ranges from about 1 m to 110 m
(Fig. 1). The hydrographic conditions of the
Straits are dominated by the diurnal tides and by
the northeast and southwest monsoons. General
climate patterns have remained somewhat
consistent over the years, although some limited
variations have occurred (Chua et al., 1997). In
the numerical simulation, the area is discretized
by 397 325 points (0.5 minutes by 0.5 minutes)
in the horizontal plane and 4 equal layers over the
depth. x = 0.925 km, y = 0.92 km, t E =
0.8 s,

t I = 24 s.

sediment concentration.
3. MODEL APPLICATION TO THE
MALACCA AND SINGAPORE STRAITS
Study Area
The
developed
3D
hydrodynamic/sediment transport model has been

Fig.1. Study area and depth contour of Malacca and Singapore

Straits (in meters)

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Model Results

elevation (m)

The flow due to tides is simulated. The

model calibration is carried out based on the
southwest monsoon tidal situation between
0400 hours, 5th July, 1997, to 0300 hours, 8th
July, 1997. The tidal elevations and current
velocities in the domain are predicted. The time
history records of the tidal elevations and the
current velocities in the Malacca Strait are
currently not available. The time history records
of the tidal elevations and the current velocities
at selected stations in Singapore Strait after 24
hours physical time are compared with data
published in Tide Table. As for the simulated
tidal elevations, it can be observed from Fig. 2
that the simulated and published free surface
water elevations show good agreement at station
Bukom: the magnitude, as well as the phase of
the free surface water elevation, are well
simulated. The correlation coefficient between
simulated tidal elevations and Tide Table data is
0.988. The comparison of the simulated and
published tide-induced currents with regard to
both magnitude and direction at the selected
station, Gusong Beacon, is shown in Fig. 3. A
comparison of the computed velocities and
published data shows that the magnitude and the
phase of the simulated currents are favorably
matched at the selected station. The correlation
coefficient between simulated tidal velocities
and Tide Table data is 0.987 and the mean
absolute difference is about 0.5 knots.
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Computed
Tide table

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

time (hrs)

Figure 2 Comparison of computed tidal elevations

with those published in Tide Table at station Bukom
(01013.5N, 103046.7E) (04:00/06/07/1997 to
03:00/08/07/1997)

velocity (knots)

Simulation of tidal elevation and currents for 58 July, 1997

Computed
Tide table

3
2
1
0
-1 0

10

20

30

40

-2
-3
-4
time (hrs)

Figure 3 Comparison of computed tidal velocities

with those published in Tide Table at station Gusong
Beacon (+ for 670, - for 2470) (01011.1 N, 103047.6E)
(04:00/06/07/1997 to 03:00/08/07/1997)

Simulation of flow and suspended sediment

concentration for 12-18 April, 2001
In the Malacca and Singapore Straits there
are few observations of the flow and suspended
sediment concentration. But water color can be
obtained from satellite remote sensing which
can be used to validate the model results. The
remote sensing data on the water leaving
radiance used here are the seaWIFS satellite
data from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). The spatial resolution
is 0.5 minutes. In the following images (Figs.
5(b) and 6(b)), bright areas represent high
reflectance and thus, high suspended load
concentrations and the strong absorption (dark
area) may indicate low suspended load
concentrations in the Straits.
There are 26 images available covering
parts of the Malacca and Singapore Straits in
2001. Unfortunately, only seven images were
comparatively cloud free to reflect the patterns
of the suspended load in the water. From these
images, some eminent characteristics can be
identified. In the present model application, the
verification simulation runs for suspended
sediment transport were carried out from 12 to
18 April, 2001, because there are four clearer
images during this time period. To get
convergent results, the simulation runs start
from 01 hour, 28th March, 2001. The simulated
typical current patterns for the selected tide
phases (13:00/14/04/2001 and 13:00/16/04/2001)
at the free surface and near bottom are shown in
Fig. 4 and the corresponding suspended load
concentration patterns of the near-surface water
are compared with the satellite images in Figs. 5
and 6.
A comparison of Fig. 4 with Figs. 5(a) and
6(a) shows that the simulated suspended
sediment concentration at free water surface is
closely related to circulation pattern at that time.
In general, the flow is similar in direction for
free water surface and near bottom, with the
largest velocity in the surface and a great
reduction in velocity at the near bottom. The

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smaller flow velocities and lower suspended

load sediment concentration can be found in the
near shore area, compared to the offshore areas.
The concentrations at the connection between
the Malacca Strait and Singapore Strait and
around islands: Rupat and Bengkalis are much
higher than those in other areas because the
Malacca Strait becomes narrow and shallow and
the flow velocities are greatly increased in these
areas. It is also observed that the predicted
distribution
of
suspended
sediment
concentration (Figs. 5(a) and 6(a)) is generally
in good agreement with the satellite images
(Figs. 5(b) and 6(b)). There is a belt of high
suspended sediment concentration along the
centerline of the Malacca Strait just as in the
satellite images. The low concentration can be
seen in the nearshore area in both images.
Comparing the model results with the
corresponding satellite images some other
similarities can be found. At present, it is not
easy to get the absolute value of the suspended
sediment concentration directly fro m remote
sensing. The further calibration work on remote
sensing data and model results will be done in
future.
Overall, the comparison between the
computed values and satellite images proves
that the model simulation is successful. The
results can at least reproduce the general pattern
of the suspended sediment distribution in the
Malacca and Singapore Straits.
4. CONCLUSIONS
A 3D hydrodynamic and sediment
transport model with sigma coordinate system,
which can well track free water surface and bed
deformation, has been developed to simulate the
hydrodynamic
and
sediment
transport
characteristics of Malacca and Singapore Straits.
The model calibration and verification show
that the simulated free surface water elevations
and currents are favorably matched with the
published data in Tide Table at the selected
stations. The simulated suspended sediment
concentration is closely related to circulation
pattern at that time. The predicted distribution
of suspended sediment concentration is
generally in good agreement with the satellite
images. Overall, the developed model can
reproduce the general pattern of the suspended
sediment distribution in the Straits.

One of the main problems in the modelling

study is the difficulty in obtaining sufficient
field data for calibration and verification. Future
work could be carried out to focus on
recalibration of simulated currents and

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suspended sediment concentration as more field

data become available and investigation of the
effects of wave-current interactions on sediment
transport in the model. Finally, the 3D
hydrodynamic and sediment transport model
could be expected to predict some typical and
long-term scenarios, which occur in the Malacca
and Singapore Straits.
REFERENCES
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ocean
circulation
model.
Threedimensional coastal ocean models, N. S.
Heaps, ed., American Geophysical Union,
Washington, D. C., pp. 1-16.
Choy, Y. Y. (1989). Mathematical modeling of
sediment transport under tidal flows. M.
Eng. Thesis, National University of
Singapore.
Chua, T. E., Ross, S. A. and Yu, H. (1997).
Malacca Straits environmental profile.
GEF/UNDP/IMO Regional Programme for
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Wai, W. H.O., Lu, Q. M. and Li, Y. S. (1996).

Multi-layer
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Wu, W. M., Rodi, W. and Wenka, T. (2000).

3D numerical modelling of flow and
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