OCEN 201

Introduction to Ocean &

Coastal Engineering
Coastal Processes & Structures
Jun Zhang
Jun-zhang@tamu.edu

Coastal Processes
Typical beach profile and coastal zone
- Beaches dissipate wave energy and are constantly
adjusting to the wave environment (shoaling, wave
breaking, sand bar & surf zone, Fig. 4-1, pp80)
Littoral Transport (sediment transport)
- Long shore transport (parallel to the shoreline,
long shore current)
- Offshore-onshore transport (perpendicular to the
shoreline)

Beach Profile Fig. 4-1, pp102

Consequences of Coastal Processes

Beach erosion (Natural or Man-Made Causes)

Table 4-1 pp104 (old E. pp81)

Beach Protection & Nourishment
-coastal

structures

Coastal Erosion

Coastal Erosion
Hwy 87
Texas Coast

Infrastructure
Property
Environment

Beach Nourishment

Economic
value of
Beaches

Coastal Processes
Sediment Transport

Wind and Waves

Coastal Structures
Break waters: (rubble mound, sheet pile, stone asphalt,
Dolos, concrete cassions, floating structures
(coastal & offshore))
Jetties & Groins (normal to the shorelines)
Sea walls
Bulkheads, Revetments, G-tubes
Sand Bypassing (continue the littoral process; passive
and active)
Ports, Harbors and Marinas

Shore Protection Projects- Breakwaters

Shore Protection Projects- Breakwaters

Shore Protection Projects- Breakwaters

Breakwater

Waterway
Navigation

Jetties

RUBBLE
MOUND
BREAKWATER

VERTICAL BREAKWATER FIGURES:

Design
Considerations

Shore Protection Projects- Groins

Shore Protection Projects- Groins

Shore Protection Projects- Groins

Shore Protection Projects- Revetments

Different Kinds of Dolos

Concrete & Reinforced Concrete

Dolos

Various Sea Walls

Shore Protection Projects- Seawalls

Construction of Galveston seawall ~ 1902

Ports and Harbors

Sand Bypass Facility

New South Wales and Queensland, Australia

Jetties at the
entrance of
Tweed River

Outlet of the sand pump

Laboratory Research

Research Experience
for Undergraduates
(REU) Program

Haynes Coastal Engineering

Laboratory

Wave Refraction*, Diffraction & Reflection

Wave Refraction: The direction of waves may
change when they enter from deep to shallow water
or from shallow to deep water.

sin 2 sin 1
Snells law:

, C is the phase velocity

C2
C1
Shallow-2

Deep-2

Deep-1

Shallow-1

Wave direction is normal to the wave crest

line
Examples of Wave refraction in the costal
zone, see pp 117 Fig 4-21 (old Edition: pp
90 Fig. 4-12).
Wave direction is normal to shore line. In
other words, wave crest-line is parallel to
the shore line.

Wave Refraction

Phenomena of wave shoaling (wave enters

from deep water to shallow water)
Wave refraction
Wave length becomes shorter
Wave group velocity is reduced
Wave becomes steeper, which leads to
wave breaking. Wave breaking leads to
the generation of long-shore current.
Definition of the surf zone: from the first
breaker (due to water depth) to the shore
line.

General Refraction Analysis

Ray Line - Along a ray line, wave direction is always
parallel to it or wave creatline is normal to it.
Wave energy density - Average wave energy per unit length
E gH 2 / 8 gA2 / 2
Wave group (energy) velocity

1
kh
In intermediate water depth C g
nC

k 2 sinh 2kh
C
1
In deep water
Cg
, n
2k 2
2
In shallow water C g gh C , n 1

1. Steady state (time-independent)

2. Wave characteristics are
inpendent of y
(long shore direction)
3. Bottom contours is
paralell to the shore line
which is striaght

Wave energy flux = C g E

Eenergy conservation (no wave breaking)
C g 0 E 0b0 C g 1 E 1b1
Subscript '0' denotes it at deep water
1
Cg 0 C p 0
2
E 1 C g 0b0 C p 0b0

E 0 C g 1b1 2C g1b1
H1

H0

E1
E0

H1

H0

E1
KS KR
E0

KR

b0
b1

Ks

C p0
2C g 1

, known as the refraction coeff.

, known as the shoaling coeff.

pp117-118 (old edition pp91-92)

Wave Diffraction: When wave energy is

transferred laterally to wave direction, this
phenomenon is known as wave diffraction.
Wave diffraction occurs when waves passing
by a surface piercing body. It may occur in
deep or shallow water.
An example in shallow water is wave
diffraction behind a breaker water. See Fig. 422 at pp119 (old edition Fig. 4-13 at pp93).
(internet examples)

Wave Reflection and Transmission: when the

water depth suddenly changes, part of the incident
wave energy is reflected in the direction opposite
to the incident wave direction, part energy
continues to propagate (transmit) in the incident
wave direction.
H i : incident wave height; H r : reflected wave height
H t : transmitted wave height
Hr
Reflection Coeff. Cr
;
Hi
Ht
Transmission Coeff. Ct
Hi

Reflection Coeff. of a plane slope

tan
Surf parameter
H i / L0
where is the slope
H i is the incident wave height
L0 is the wavelength in deep water.
Using Fig 4-23 at pp 120 (old edition Fig. 4-14 at pp
94), you may determine the reflection coefficient
based upon the surf parameter.

Wave Runup
Wave runup is important to the design of the
height of coastal structure, such as seawalls
and breakwaters.
Hunt (1959)
R
tan

for tan 0.1
H
H / L0
where R is the wave runup.
H is the wave height
see Fig. 4-24 (p121)
(old edition Fig. 4-15 (p95))

Sediment Transport
s gd
Buoyancy index: B
1

where s the specific weight of a sphere
3
s
2

the specific weight of fluid

d s the diameter of sphere
the kinematic viscosity of fluid.
Because the diameter of the sediment is not
uniform, d s is replace by d50 , which is the
median diameter of the sediment.
B is non-dimensional.

Sediment Transport
s gd s3
Buoyancy index: B
1
2

s
In general,
1, that is, the sediment particle is

heavier than water. The submerged weight of the

3
s

particle is proportional to d and the falling velocity

decreases with the increase in viscosity of water.
Hence, smaller buoyancy index indicates smaller falling
velocity and larger buoyancy index results in larger
falling velocity.

Based on the buoyancy index, the falling velocity

V f (also known as terminal velocity) can be
computed using Eq. 4-26 (p125 old edition p101)
or Fig 4-27 (p125) (old edition Fig. 4-18 (p102)).
Falling velocity tells the suspension time of a
particle in water after it is suspended in the water
column.
If one knows the current or wave induced particle
velocity, the movement of the particle in the horizontal
direction can be computed.

Reading Assignment:
Sediment Transport & Scour
Littoral Transport (sediment transport in
coastal or littoral zone)
Coastal Structure (jetties, groins,
breakwater, sand-bypass & G-tubes)
Dredging

Reading Assignment:
Sediment Transport & Scour
Littoral Transport (sediment transport in
coastal or littoral zone)
Coastal Structure (jetties, groins,
breakwater, sand-bypass & G-tubes)
Dredging