Coastal engineering

Coastal engineering

A branch of civil engineering that applies engineering principles specifically to projects within the coastal zone including areas nearshore, estuary, marine, and shoreline.

Industry: Engineering

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Coastal engineering

Bar

Engineering; Coastal engineering

A submerged or emerged embankment of sand, gravel, or other unconsolidated material built on the sea floor in shallow water by waves and currents.

Barrier lagoon

Engineering; Coastal engineering

A bay roughly parallel to the coast and separated from the open ocean by barrier islands. Also, the body of water encircled by coral islands and reefs, in which case it may be called an atoll lagoon.

Sheet flow

Engineering; Coastal engineering

Sediment grains under high sheer stress moving as a layer that extends from the bed surface to some distance below (on the order of a few cm). Grains are transported in the direction of fluid flow.

Bed forms

Engineering; Coastal engineering

Any deviation from a flat bed that is readily detectable by eye and higher than the largest sediment size present in the parent bed material; generated on the bed of an alluvial channel by the flow.

Longshore bar

Engineering; Coastal engineering

A sand ridge or ridges, running roughly parallel to the shoreline and extending along the shore outside the trough, that may be exposed at low tide or may occur below the water level in the offshore.

Tidal prism

Engineering; Coastal engineering

(1) The total amount of water that flows into a harbour or out again with movement of the tide, excluding any fresh water flow. (2) The volume of water present between mean low and mean high tide.

Swell

Engineering; Coastal engineering

Wind-generated waves that have travelled out of their generating area. Swell characteristically exhibits a more regular and longer period and has flatter crests than waves within their fetch (seas).