tel. : (401) 874-6636
fax. : (401) 874-6837
http ://www.oce.uri.edu/~grilli
email : grilli@mistral.oce.uri.edu
Synopsis :
OCE307, offered in the Spring, is an introduction to coastal engineering which is a special branch of engineering involving a composite of many physical and engineering sciences having implications in coastal areas. OCE307 is the first course in a sequence of several courses covering the ocean hydrodynamics and ocean structures areas in the OE undergraduate curriculum (see next section).
OCE307 studies both the natural and man-induced changes in the coastal zone and discusses both the structural and non-structural protections against these changes. The course also discusses the desirable and adverse impacts of possible solutions to coastal protection problems.
Since fluid mechanics theories must be used to understand coastal engineering processes, MCE354, Fluid Mechanics (or equivalent) is a prerequisite to OCE307. The structure of OCE307, however, allows for MCE354 to be taken simultaneously.
Course sequence :
OCE307 is an introductory course to coastal processes in which both the environmental forcing (wind, waves, and currents) and resulting littoral processes (sediment transport and beach dynamics) are studied in connection with general problems of shore protection and coastal development.
Strategies for beach protection using structural (e.g., breakwaters) or non-structural (e.g., beach re-nourishment) solutions are discussed in OCE307 but detailed structural design of such adopted solutions is not covered.
OCE421, Marine Structure Design (Hu, instructor), is a course also offered in the Spring that covers the design of coastal and ocean structures per se, using most of the material studied in OCE307 to obtain the environmental forcing acting on structures. OCE421 thus has OCE307 as a prerequisite and can be taken in the senior undergraduate year.
Some of the laboratory experiments designed as part of OCE311, Basic Coastal Measurements, also taught in Spring, are aimed at illustrating the content of OCE307.
More advanced courses on the topic are available in the graduate OE curriculum and can be taken as professional electives in the senior undergraduate year : OCE510, Engineering Ocean Mechanics (Spaulding, instructor); OCE514, Engineering Wave Mechanics and Littoral Processes (Grilli, instructor); OCE515, Marine Hydrodynamics (Grilli, instructor); and OCE522, Dynamics of Waves and Structures (Hu, instructor).
Prerequisite :
Undergraduate Fluid Dynamics course MCE354 or equivalent.
Required textbooks :
Shore Protection Manual. Vol 1 and 2, fourth edition 1984. Dept. of the Army. US Army Corps of Engineers.
Dean, R.G. and Dalrymple, R.A. (1991) Water Wave Mechanics for Engineers and Scientists. Advanced Series on Ocean Engineering - Vol II. World Scientific, Singapore.
Additional textbooks :
Mei, C.C. (1989) The Applied Dynamics of Ocean Surface Waves. Advanced Series on Ocean Engineering - Vol I. World Scientific, Singapore.
Lamb, H. (1945) Hydrodynamics. Dover Publication, New York.
Content :
In the following, T1 refers to the first required textbook and T2 to the second one. Main items covered in OCE307 are as follows :
Wave JAVA applets :
Dr. R.A. Dalrymple of the University of Delaware developed a series of Java applets useful for illustrating wave mechanics concepts used in OCE307. These applets have been locally compiled on the ocean engineering server "ocean" and can thus be run faster by the students than by accessing Dr. Dalrymple's homepage. Click the following :