Basic Coastal Engineering

The second edition (1997) of this text was a completely rewritten version of the original text Basic Coastal Engineering published in 1978. This third edition makes several corrections, improvements and additions to the second edition. Basic Coastal Engineering is an introductory text on wave mechanics and coastal processes along with fundamentals that underline the practice of coastal engineering. This book was written for a senior or first postgraduate course in coastal engineering. It is also suitable for self study by anyone having a basic engineering or physical science background. The level of coverage does not require a math or fluid mechanics background beyond that presented in a typical undergraduate civil or mechanical engineering curriculum. The material p- sented in this text is based on the author’s lecture notes from a one-semester course at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Texas A&M University, and George Washington University, and a senior elective course at Lehigh University. The text contains examples to demonstrate the various analysis techniques that are presented and each chapter (except the first and last) has a collection of problems for the reader to solve that further demonstrate and expand upon the text material. Chapter 1 briefly describes the coastal environment and introduces the re- tively new field of coastal engineering. Chapter 2 describes the two-dimensional characteristics of surface waves and presents the small-amplitude wave theory to support this description.

Basic Coastal Engineering, 3rd Edition offers the basics on

monochromatic and spectral surface wave mechanics, coastal water level

variations, coastal structures and coastal sedimentary processes. It also

provides the necessary background from which the reader can pursue a

more advanced study of the various theoretical and applied aspects of

coastal hydrodynamics and design.

This classic text offers senior and beginning post-graduate students in

civil and mechanical engineering or the physical and environmental

sciences a well-rounded introduction to coastal engineering. Engineers

and physical scientists who have not had the opportunity for formal

study in coastal engineering, but would like to become familiar with the

subject, will also benefit from this timely resource.

New material covered in this third edition includes:

Material on coastal processes including beach equilibrium profiles,

beach profile closure depth, mechanisms causing beach profile change, and

the characteristics and design of coastal entrances.

Material on the design of stone mound structures including low-crested

breakwaters, sensitivity of the Hudson equation for rubble mound

structure design, armor stone specification and the economic

implications of design wave selection.

Material on surface waves including vessel-generated waves, refraction

and diffraction of directional wave spectra and design wave selection

examples.