Meeting Research and Education Needs in Coastal Engineering (1999) / Chapter Skim
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2 Status of Education and Research in the United States
2 Status of Education and Research in the United States
Pages 26-39
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From page 26... ...
However, the long-term welfare of adjacent beaches and the conservation of the sand resource were not design considerations at that time, as beaches were considered to have little intrinsic value. The breakwater for Santa Barbara, California, built between 1927 and 1930, is a classic example of the unintended consequences of building a harbor without concern for coastal processes, causing beach erosion for many miles downdrift.
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From page 27... ...
They later attracted new residents, particularly retirees and those who could afford vacation homes. Ancillary erosion caused by the increased number of coastal structures led to the establishment of the Beach Erosion Board in 1930 to begin research into coastal processes and design procedures for protecting the shoreline from erosion and from inappropriately designed structures.
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From page 28... ...
As the complexity and importance of coastal engineering problems has increased, the education of coastal engineers has become increasingly important to the nation, as has the amount of funding available for research to develop a better understanding of coastal processes and to provide innovative solutions to coastal problems. In this chapter, the state of coastal engineering education and research are examined.
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From page 29... ...
The undergraduate courses include wave mechanics, coastal processes, the design of coastal structures, ocean engineering, geology, tidal hydrodynamics, and complementary courses in engineering and oceanography. Nonmilitary graduates are employed by private engineering firms, industry (typically offshore)
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From page 30... ...
Furthermore, despite the growing need for coastal engineers to deal with a complexity of environmental issues, no courses in wetlands ecology, coastal geology, environmental management, or assessing environmental impacts are being offered. Faculty The 19 institutions that responded to the survey have approximately 50 fulltime faculty positions, either in coastal engineering or in related programs.
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From page 31... ...
Post-storm reconnaissance surveys taken after hurricanes Elena, Gilbert, and Hugo, which struck in Florida, Mexico, and South Carolina, respectively, showed that structures designed to modern coastal engineering standards resisted major structural damage (Dean, l991b)
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From page 32... ...
Department of Transportation, the Army Research Office, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have supported research for specific coastal engineering projects, but none of these agencies provides significant ongoing support. The USACE, ONR, Sea Grant, and NSF provided the committee with dollar amounts of their support for academic research in coastal engineering since 1985, and the committee's assessment of the level of support for academic research is based on these figures.3 Overall support for coastal engineering research by the federal government since 1985 is shown in Figure 2-1.
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From page 33... ...
o) 1.5 o ~n O ._ 1.0 0.5 0.0 · ONR NSF Sea Grant USACE 1 985 1 986 1 987 1 988 1 989 1 990 1 991 1 992 1 993 1 994 1 995 1 996 1 997 1 998 Year FIGURE 2-2 Major funding for academic research.
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From page 34... ...
Research topics include the mechanics of sediment transport, the mechanics of surf and swash zones, modeling of coastal evolution, beach nourishment, wave forces on structures, and the probabilistic design of breakwaters. 4 http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgl2/marine/mast3-pr.html.
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From page 35... ...
Delft) and Delft Hydraulics, whose team of coastal engineers has made significant contributions to the development of coastal engineering.
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From page 36... ...
However, the costs of advanced research facilities, including the cost of regular maintenance and full-time staff support, have prevented many institutions from acquiring and maintaining these facilities. Laboratory facilities should include wave tanks and basins, as well as the sensors and data-acquisition systems required to support them.
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From page 37... ...
Sollitt, Oregon State University.
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From page 38... ...
USAGE's Inland Waterways Research Facility, used for waterways engineering, includes the exact-scale modeling of navigational channels; the ship/tow simulator facility, a computerized simulator of navigation conditions, used for realistic, real-time piloted evaluations of proposed improvements to navigation; dredging research supported by the draghead test facility for modeling hopperdredge draghead performance and the eductor loop facility for the evaluation of dredging pumps, piping, and instrumentation. Port engineering is supported by a number of large-scale hydraulic models of port systems, in which the effects of tides, currents, ocean waves, and internal oscillations can be studied.
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From page 39... ...
STATUS OF EDUCATION AND RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES Commercial Facilities 39 At this time, the committee knows of no commercial laboratory facilities in the United States that are available for research in coastal engineering, although there were at least two a decade ago. Commercially funded testing and applied research are done either through contracts with a few academic institutions or overseas.
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