THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Engineering : Civil

Undergraduate Course: Coastal Engineering 5 (CIVE11056)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Engineering CollegeCollege of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Year 5 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits10 ECTS Credits5
SummaryAround 40% of the world¿s population lives within 100km of the coastline. The coastal zone is one of the most dynamic and high-energy systems on Earth, where geophysical processes such as erosion, deposition and flooding develop due to the action of wind, waves and tides. These ongoing processes can present a serious risk to life, home security and economy, and wellbeing to the population living in coastal areas. Increasing coastal erosion rates due to sea level rise is also a concern for these coastal communities. This course presents a series of lectures and hands-on tutorials to learn about the coast and how to manage it from an engineering perspective. In particular, we will focus on the design of breakwaters. The course will be assessed with coursework to be developed weekly in the classroom.
Course description Topics by week

1. Coastal features and processes: forcings, beach movement and sediment transport; Shoreline indicators
1 hour lecture + 2 hours tutorial

2. Waves - generation, propagation, refraction, shoaling, breaking
1 hour lecture + 2 hours tutorial

3. Coastal structures - general typology, specific examples
1 hour lecture + 2 hours tutorial

4. Armoured mounds: breakwaters, seawalls - armour sizing and stability
1 hour lecture + 2 hours tutorial

5. Wave overtopping
1 hour lecture + 2 hours tutorial

6. Wave overtopping (cont.)
1 hour lecture + 2 hours tutorial

7. Vertical breakwaters / seawalls / caissons - wave forces, stability
1 hour lecture + 2 hours tutorial

8. Design lectures and tutorials
3 hours tutorial

9. Design lectures and tutorials
3 hours tutorial

10. Design lectures and tutorials
3 hours tutorial
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesFluid Mechanics, Environmental Engineering, Mathematics.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 7, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 23, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 66 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Written Exam %: 0%
Practical Exam %: 0%
Coursework %: 100%
Feedback Students will receive verbal feedback during the weekly tutorials.
Students will work on the design of a breakwater (the summative assessment) weekly during these tutorials based on the material seen during the lectures.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Identify the most important natural processes taking place on the coast;
  2. Analyse wave and tidal forcings using real world data;
  3. Identify natural and anthropogenic coastal features;
  4. Design the critical elements of a breakwater.
Reading List
- Coastal Engineering: Processes, Theory and Design Practice, D Reeve, CRC Press, 2018.
- Introduction to coastal engineering and management, JW Kamphuis, World Scientific, 2020.
- Coastal processes with engineering applications, RG Dean & RA Dalrymple, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsCoastal,Waves,Beach,Erosion,Overtopping,Breakwaters
Contacts
Course organiserDr Encarni Medina-Lopez
Tel: (0131 6)50 5642
Email: Encarni.Medina-Lopez@ed.ac.uk
Course secretary
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