Undergraduate Course: Coastal Engineering (CIVE11056)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Year 5 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | Around 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.
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| Course description |
Topics by week:
Week 1:
Course introduction, assignment and motivation.
Week 2:
Forcings
a. Tide processes and effects
b. Ocean waves
i. Linear theory
ii. Pressures
iii. Water depth effects
iv. Group waves and energy
Wave transformations and attenuation
a. Refraction
b. Shoaling
c. Combined refraction and shoaling
d. Diffraction
e. Breaking
Copernicus tutorial
Week 3:
Design wave specification I
a. Short-term wave statistics
b. Wave energy spectra
c. Swell waves
d. Encounter probabilities and return periods
e. Prediction of nearshore waves
f. Long-term wave climate changes and choosing appropriate design conditions
Week 4:
General coastal features and typologies
a. Beach movement
b. General morphodynamic processes
c. General types of coastal structures
Week 5:
Tutorial exercise in simple depth-limited breaking
Armoured mounds
a. Breakwaters, seawalls
b. Elements in rubble mound seawalls, revetments or breakwaters
c. Armour types
d. Armour sizing formulae for rock armour and concrete armour units
e. Revetment blockwork
Week 6:
Vertical breakwaters, seawalls and caissons
a. Example configurations and elements
b. Reminder: types of wave breaking
c. Calculating wave pressures and forces
d. Simple stability estimates
Week 7:
Wave overtopping at seawalls and breakwaters
a. Example seawalls
b. Overtopping parameters
c. Main prediction equations
d. EurOtop
e. Allowable overtopping limits
Week 8:
Design wave specification II
a. Reminder of Design Wave Specification I and how it builds on to this
b. Design conditions: extremes and return period
c. Peaks Over Threshold
d. Generalised Pareto Distribution
e. Joint probability of events
f. Reliability and risk
Week 9:
Soft coastal defences for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects
Week 10:
Sediment transport
a. Bed shear stress and Shields parameter
b. Total load transport by currents
c. Total load transport by currents and waves
d. Longshore transport
Beach equilibrium and coastal nourishment
a. Equilibrium beach profile theory
b. Beach nourishment
Profile types
Volume calculations
Planform response
Week 11:
Designing coastal structures with climate change
a. Effects of changing water levels and wave conditions, strategies for resilient defences
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Fluid Mechanics, Environmental Engineering, Mathematics. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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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 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Written Exam %: 0%
Practical Exam %: 0%
Coursework %: 100%
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| 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:
- Identify the most important natural processes taking place on the coast;
- Analyse wave and tidal forcings using real world data;
- Identify natural and anthropogenic coastal features;
- Design the critical elements of a breakwater.
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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.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The following Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes (AHEP4) learning outcomes are assessed as follows:
Final report: M1 Science, mathematics and engineering principles; M2 Problem analysis; M3 Analytical tools and techniques; M4 Technical literature; M5 Design; M6 Integrated/systems approach; M7 Sustainability; M9 Risk; M11 Equality, diversity and inclusion; M13 Materials, equipment, technologies and processes; M14 Quality management; M15 Engineering and project management; M16 Teamwork; M17 Communication; M18 Lifelong learning
The following Skills for Success areas are covered: Critical thinking; Problem solving; Curiosity; Collaboration; Communication; Reflection; Inclusivity; Adaptivity; Data and Digital Literacy; Individuality |
| Keywords | Coastal,Waves,Beach,Erosion,Overtopping,Breakwaters |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Encarni Medina-Lopez
Tel: (0131 6)50 5642
Email: Encarni.Medina-Lopez@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Tom Lawford-Groves
Tel: (0131 6)50 5687
Email: t.lawford-groves@ed.ac.uk |
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