Wave breaking has been observed to affect the bottom boundary layer in surf zones, with potential impacts on bottom friction. The present paper investigates the impact of wave breaking on bottom friction and set-up using a recently proposed parameterization of the wave-induced turbulent kinetic energy in turbulent closure equations of the wave-averaged flow. The behavior of this parameterization is investigated by comparing phase-resolving and phase-averaged solutions. We show that the phase-averaged solution strongly overestimates turbulent kinetic energy, in a way similar to the modeling of air flow over waves. The current is correctly simulated. When applied to a realistic planar beach and after some modifications, the mixing parameterization yields the correct reproduction of the observed longshore current, with only a limited impact on wave set-up.
Mixing and bottom friction: parameterization and application to the surf zone