Coastal Engineering

By
Dr. Dhruvesh Patel
Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering Department
Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University
Coastal Engineering
• Costal : A coastal zone is the interface between the land and water.
• Shores that are influenced by wave processes (oscillatory flow
dynamics)
• Bays, and lakes, and estuaries, including that part of rivers subject to
the ebb and flow of the tide.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-13-8926-9_1
Coastal Engineering
• Coastal engineering is a branch of civil engineering concerned with the
specific demands posed by constructing at or near the coast, as well as the
development of the coast itself.
• The hydrodynamic impact of especially waves, tides, storm
surges and tsunamis and (often) the harsh environment of salt seawater are
typical challenges for the coastal engineer
• Areas: Harbor works, navigation channel improvements, shore protection,
flood damage reduction, and environmental preservation and restoration.
• Requires the rational interweaving of knowledge from many technical
disciplines to develop solutions for problems associated with
• natural and human induced changes in the coastal zone
• the structural and non-structural mitigation of these changes
• the positive & negative impacts of solutions to problem areas on the coast.
Coastal Engineering
• The Coastal Engineer must consider the processes present in the area
of interest such as:
• Environmental processes
• Hydrodynamics processes
• Seasonal meteorological trends
• Sediment processes
• Geological processes
• Long-term environmental trends
• Social and political conditions
Waves in Shallow Waters
• When waves travel into areas of shallow water, they begin to be
affected by the ocean bottom. The free orbital motion of the water is
disrupted, and water particles in orbital motion no longer return to
their original position.
• As the water becomes shallower, the swell becomes higher and
steeper, ultimately assuming the familiar sharp-crested wave shape.
After the wave breaks, it becomes a wave of translation and erosion of
the ocean bottom intensifies.
Wave generation
• Ocean waves are mainly generated
by the action of wind on water. The
waves are formed initially by a
complex process of resonance and
shearing action, in which waves of
differing wave height, length,
period are produced and travel in
various directions. Once formed,
ocean waves can travel for vast
distances, spreading in area and
reducing in height, but maintaining
wavelength and period as shown in
Figure.
Wave deformation
• Wave deformation may occur due to
• Lateral diffraction of wave energy
• By the process of attenuation
• Air resistance encountered by the waves or by directly opposing winds
• By the tendency of the waves to overrun the currents.

• The important phenomenon in regard to wave deformations taking

place in the near shore zone is refraction, diffraction and reflection.
Wave refraction
• Variation in wave celerity occurs along the crest of a wave moving at
an angle to under water contours because that part of the wave crest in
deeper waters will be moving faster than the part in shallower waters.
Wave diffraction
• Diffraction of water waves is a phenomenon in which energy is
transferred laterally along a wave crest. It is most noticeable where a
barrier such as a breakwater interrupts an otherwise regular train of
waves. In such a case, the waves curve around the barrier and
penetrate into the sheltered area.
Wave diffraction
• A simple illustration is presented in figure, in which case a wave
propagates normal to a breakwater of finite length and diffraction
occurs on the sheltered side of the breakwater such that a wave
disturbance is transmitted into the “geometric shadow zone.”
Wave diffraction
• the origin of the coordinate system is taken to be at the tip of the
breakwater with the x and y-axes running parallel and normal to the
breakwater as shown. The regions may be idealized as follows.
Wave diffraction
Breaking of waves
A ocean wave would break leading to the dissipation of energy under
the conditions listed below.
• When horizontal particle velocity at the crest exceeds the celerity of
the wave
• When vertical particle acceleration is greater than acceleration due to
gravity
• When crest angle is less than 120o
• When the wave steepness, H/L > 0.142 (Deep waters)
• H/L > 0.142 tanhkd (shallow waters)
• When wave height is greater than 0.78d.
Types of breakers
• Spilling breakers: Low steepness waves on mild slopes which break by
continuous spilling of foam down the front face sometimes called as
white water. Breaking is gradual.
Types of breakers
• Plunging breakers: Medium steepness waves on medium steepness
beaches curl over. Waves break instantly.
Types of breakers
• Surging breakers: These occur with the steepest waves on the
steepness Beaches. The base of the wave surges up the beach
generating considerable Foam. It builds up as if to form the plunging
type.
Sediment Transport
Coastal Sediment Properties and Analysis
• Of greatest interest are those physical properties of beach sediments
that control their response to wind, wave, and current action and, in
tum, are important to the design of engineering works in the coastal
zone. We are primarily interested in non cohesive granular sediments.
Physical properties of these sediments include:
1. Petrology or chemical constituents of the sediment grains
2. Specific gravity of the grain materials and the bulk specific weight of
the granular mass
3. Bulk porosity and permeability of the granular mass
4. Grain shape
5. Representative grain sizes and size distribution
Coastal Sediment Properties and Analysis
Representative Size and Size Distribution
• Sediment grains found in the coastal zone will have a wide variety of
shapes. Grain sizes are given as a grain diameter. Whether the grain
size measurement was done by sieving or settling tube analysis will
yield a slightly different grain diameter for a given grain shape. The
analysis technique should be considered when comparing grain size
analyses.
Beach Profiles and Profile Change
• Waves that reach a sandy shore, then break and run up on the beach
face, will continually reshape the beach. This continuous reshaping
occurs because the incident wave characteristics are seldom constant
for any significant time span. Reshaping of the beach is caused by the
wave-induced currents that develop in the surf zone and, by the direct
action of the waves through turbulence generated by the breaking
waves and the surge of water up and down the beach face.
Beach Profiles and Profile Change
• A beach profile may recede as much as 30 m in the landward direction
during a single intense storm. If much of the beach sand is carried too
far offshore for subsequent return to the beach face and the nearshore
zone by calm waves, and there is insufficient net sand accumulation
from alongshore transport processes, permanent recession of the
shoreline will result.
Numerical Modelling in Coastal Engineering
• Coastal Engineering Solutions specializes in the development of
coastal studies and maintains state-of-the-art capabilities in respect to
numerical modelling. We have extensive experience on coastal
modelling projects with specific reference to wave studies,
hydrodynamic studies and sediment dynamics.
Numerical Modelling in Coastal Engineering
• However sophisticated computer models are a design tool only. Their
reliability is determined very much by the experience and practical
understanding of the people manipulating the models. Unless they are
in the hands of experienced and practical coastal engineers, model
results can be inaccurate or misleading. It is for this reason that all of
our numerical modelling is undertaken by senior engineers having in
excess of thirty years’ of practical coastal engineering experience.
Physical Modelling in Coastal Engineering
• Design optimization can take the form of flume modelling of rubble
mound structures (e.g. breakwaters, seawalls); the optimization of
structure types to meet budgetary restraints; and the study of wave
forces on structures. It is often not appreciated that the relative cost of
undertaking physical modelling of coastal structures is minor when
compared to the expense of an over-designed structure, or a structure
that requires frequent repair.
Planning of Coastal Protraction works
1. Break Water: Break water Is a way of protecting against long shore
drift. Break wasters is used to reduce the power of the wave. They
are built to protect a beach that is sloping. The depth of the water
and the tidal range depend weather its fixed or floating.
When waves hit the breakwaters, the power of the waves are reduced on
the breakwater structure so it wont eroded the cliffs as much.
Planning of Coastal Protraction works
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Break Water
• Advantages : The advantage of the breakwater structure is that the
waves wont be as eroding.
• Disadvantages : Unprotected areas of the beach will not receive any
new sediment and the beach may shrink slowly.
Planning of Coastal Protraction works
2. Gabions : Gabions is a strong wire cage with pebbles, stones and
rocks inside. Gabions protect the coast line by stopping the waves
hitting the cliffs. it reduces the power of the waves when it hits the small
rocks inside the cage.
Planning of Coastal Protraction works
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Gabions
• Advantages : Gabions are made out of natural materials and are
very cheap to make.
• Disadvantages : They can take up a lot of space, and when the
rocks and stones all erode , the whole cadge will have to be taken
away and replaced.
Planning of Coastal Protraction works
3. Groynes : Groynes are fences that go along the beach at angles to
prevent long shore drift. The energy from the waves is absorbed in the
groynes. It also catches and traps sediment to prevent it from moving up
the beach.
Planning of Coastal Protraction works
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Groynes
• Advantages: It slows down long shore drift.
• Disadvantages: They have to be replaced every 15-20 years.
Planning of Coastal Protraction works
4. Revetments : Revetments are sloping structures placed on banks or
cliffs in such a way as to absorb the energy of incoming water.
Advantages: They catch sediment from long shore drift which helps to
build up a beach.
Disadvantages: It stops the rest of the beach further down from getting
any more sediment, so the beach may become smaller.
Planning of Coastal Protraction works
5. Sea walls : Sea walls are a curved concrete walls that stop strong
waves hitting the cliffs.
Advantages: It protects the foot of the cliff form erosion and can also
prevent flooding.
Disadvantages: The are expensive to built and it makes the back swash
very strong when the wave hits the sea wall.
Text Books

1) Title :Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering

Author: SK Garg
Publisher : Khanna Publishers

2) Title :Water Resources Engineering

Author: Wesley P James
Publisher : Person Education

3) Title : Hydrology-Principle Analysis and Design

Author : HM Reaghunath
Publisher : New Age Publishers

4) Title : Engineering Hydrology

Author : K Subramanya
Publisher : Mc Graw Hill Education
Prepared by,
Dr Dhruvesh Patel