Content

Introduction

• Climate change and sea level rise
• Importance of coastal and offshore engineering
• Illustrative (recent) projects

Fundamental knowledge and physical processes

• Water level
• Tide
• Currents
• Water waves, wave transformations and structural response
• Sediment mechanics

Seabed and coastal morphology

• Cross-shore transport
• Longshore transport
• Marine and aeolian sediment transport

Meteo-marine measurements

• Bathymetry and topography
• Marine measurement devices and databases

Coastal Defence

• Beaches and dunes
• Sea walls
• Groins
• Breakwaters
• Jetties
• Nature-Based Solutions
• Construction methods and equipment

Offshore structures

• Offshore geotechnics
• Offshore wind, tidal, solar and wave energy
• Gravity based, monopile, jacket foundations
• Floating structures: stability, mooring and anchoring
• Construction methods and equipment

Course material

Slides and reference material in the digital learning environment

Format: more information

Company visit - Practical lecture - Traditional lecture

Colleges are partly taught by external speakers and partly by the coordinator.
A calender specifying the contact hours is provided.

An excursion to the coast is organized to illustrate how the theory is put in practice.

Content

The project work considers a global pre-design of a coastal, offshore or river bound construction using a case study. The case study is formulated as an open-ended design question stimulating creativity and innovation. The students work in a team and mimic a consultancy office. The team consists of civil engineering students from the Faculty of Engineering Science and the Faculty of Engineering Technology. The objective is to demonstrate that:

• the team can make optimal use of the skills of the group members. The team can make an initial planning and can adjust the planning when needed during the course of the project without compromising on the milestones;
• the team can make a pre-design within the time allocated to the project;
• the team considers alternatives;
• the team can come up with a technically sound project taking into account the known or readily available conditions (hydraulic boundary conditions, soil conditions, …);
• the team can deal with the uncertainty of the available information and/or they can indicate which information is missing and how it can be acquired;
• the team considers environmental and socio-economic issues;
• the team can defend their project in front of a professional jury.

The project is introduced by “the client”. This client can be a contractor (e.g. a large dredging company) or a governmental organization (e.g. Maritime Access section of the Mobility of Public Works and Mobility). The project starts with a brainstorm session. After a few weeks, a concept note has to be presented. During this presentation session, feedback is given to the team regarding feasibility and additional sources of information (e.g. regarding hydraulic boundary condition, … ) are pointed at. There are a number of well-defined milestones which each group has to complete. At the end of the project, each group has to give a pitch presentation in plenum. After the pitch presentation, a professional jury goes into discussion with each team individually. Each team also has to submit a final technical report.

Each group has to complete the predefined milestones. The assessment is based on timely completion of the milestones, including a final pitch, demo or  poster presentation, oral defense in front of a professional jury and a final technical and management report. The complete assessment also includes a peer assessment.

Course material

Assignment, required data and background information in digital form on the learning platform, software,…

Format: more information

Project work

The students elaborate the design in groups of typically 8 students. The group members are randomly assigned. During the scheduled sessions, progress will be monitored and there is the possibility to ask questions to the supervisor(s). In addition, seminars, company and / or site visits will provide a broader view on the project.

Specific contact moments require on-site presence. This can be either in Bruges, Leuven (Arenberg) or another location. Some contact moments are organized online.