Abstract
Further than the influential role that coral reefs perform in promoting the sustainable development of several diverse aquatic organism species, they may also play a crucially significant environmental role in controlling the hydrodynamic forces and managing the action of sediment movement along wide coastal stretches. This study presents an applied example of a comprehensive hydromorphological investigation focused on the management of sediment transport in the presence of natural coral reefs based on the creation of a numerical model using the Delft3D. A series of model calibrations and verifications demonstrated that the model is capable of replicating the hydrodynamic and sediment transport processes, it is precisely applied to the study of the morphological alteration of the Western Coast of Saudi Arabia, AlWajh & Umluj, Red Sea. Within the model, the natural coral reef flocs were characterized as porous and rough cohesive soil to obtain the maximum possible simulation accuracy and minimize uncertainty. According to the findings, the impacts of remote wind and waves in the midst of coral reefs should be taken into consideration to acquire correct results for monitoring erosion and accretion regions. The results also highlighted how the natural coral reefs effectively inhibit hydrodynamic forces such as waves and ocean currents, which in turn lowered sediment transport activity and led to slight variations in sedimentary stock throughout the one-year simulation.