Coastal Engineering Research
Coastal Engineering Research at WRL has five major programs:
- Wave dynamics and structural loadings
Primary consideration in coastal design is the size of the ocean waves that develop and traverse thousands of kilometres of open ocean and impact the coast. When waves impact coastal structures, very high localised pressures and loads can be created that become the key design considerations.
- Beach morphodynamics and sediment transport
Beaches are located at the highly energetic and dynamic interface between the land and ocean. Research underway at WRL is providing new insight to the complex hydrodynamic and climatic forces that shape the coastline now and into the future. Research programs extend from the fundamental analysis of mechanisms that cause the mobility and transport of individual sand grains at the critical land-ocean boundary, up to embayment-scale monitoring and modelling of coastal-climate change.
- Coastal structures and shore protection
Over the duration of human civilisation, a broad array of coastal protection devices has been developed to protect buildings and other structures on the coastal fringe. Coastal research at WRL over the last 50 years has developed a range of novel approaches to shore protection as well as specific shore protection units and design methods.
- Estuary engineering and management
Australia is has extensive system of estuaries around her coast with are extremely biologically productive ecosystems but highly vulnerable to contamination. Estuarine engineering research at WRL continues to determine appropriate methods of modifying and managing estuarine systems whilst ensuring their ongoing usefulness as ports and navigation routes.
- Coastal management
Whilst the design of coastal structures is an important protection strategy, modifications to the coast can have much broader and larger scale impacts than may be popularly appreciated. Coastal management research at WRL maintains a large-scale perspective on coastal processes to determine environmentally appropriate and cost-effective solutions to problems on the coast.
