Basic Study of Coastal Engineering

As coastal engineer must understand not only the engineering principle but also the natural forces
causing the erosion.

First, engineer must study to understand the physical system at play on coastline, and shorelines
response to these forces.

Second, the engineer must design coastal works to meet project objectives that are within bounds of
acceptable coast impact.

Third, the engineer must oversee the construction of the coastal works and monitor their performance
to ensure proper performance.

Phase One : Studying the Coastline

Before any wrks can begin, the engineer must first undertake a comprehensive study of the coastline
involved to fully understand the dynamic element involved.

As engineer must observe each element, including the ocean and the beach as well as how the beach
responds to various events, such as storms, to gain understanding of how to design coastal works
project.

As initial matter, the engineer should research range of the tides of spesific geographic location.
Information can help an engineer to understand level at which waves will hit the beach.

Similarly current and surge information can inform how water piles up against land or how water will
surge during a storm.

Next, engineer should examine the beach itself to determine the type of sediment present and the
slope of the beach. These factors are an important consideration in the construction of a coastal work
project.

Engineers should also take into consideration the various natural protection that a coastal area may
have.

Coastline have two primary dynamic response to normal conditions and response to storm condtion.

During normal condition, the ocean wave energy is typically dissipated by the beach natural defenses,
such as sloping nearshore bottoms and development of natural protective dunes.

During storms, the massive wave energy requires beaches to sacrifice large amounts of coastline. This
may result permanent loss of land.

Phase Two . Designing Coastal Works

Revetment : usually are made of one or more layers of quarry stone or precast concrete armor unit
with a filter layer overlayying a graded in situ soil slope.

The purpose : to protect existing slope face of a dune. Not retaining structure, serve as armor for a
more stable dune or embankment.

Typically coastal works project are best designed as large scale, comprehensive projects. Prietectiom
for individual lots or smaller project tend tto fails.