This course describes the hydraulic design / analysis of vertical wall coastal structures, especially breakwaters and seawalls. Methods described will be illustrated by two case studies of breakwaters at Wick (failed) and Dover. The course introduces the hydraulic effects of tides, surges and waves with examples on wave generation, encounter probabilities, and depth-limited wave heights. It is appreciated that most engineers will use numerical modelling methods for their main calculations, but the emphasis here is to demonstrate and apply simple ‘sanity check’ empirical methods to give the key parameters.

The course describes methods to calculate wave forces on example breakwaters or seawalls and to use those on two real examples. It follows closely on courses given by Professor Allsop at ESITC Caen, at NCCR in India, and previously at HR Wallingford, and develops from the case studies described in two papers in ICE Forensic Engineering.

This course is divided into four main parts including a short general introduction and will cover:

1. Introduction
- Design life, return period, encounter probability

2. Coastal hydraulics
- Tides, surges and sea level rise
- Nearshore wave processes, including shoaling and refraction
- Depth-limited wave heights
- Impulsive breaking
- Joint probability analysis

3. Wave forces on walls
- Types of vertical walls, breakwaters and seawalls
- Types of loadings, quasi-static vs impulsive vs broken
- Wave loads, simplified assessments
- Wave loads, Goda
- Negative wave loads
- Impulsive loads
- Wave overtopping

4. Case studies, Wick and Dover
- Summary of the analysis approach
- Wick, the fate of Stevenson’s breakwater
- Wave loads and stability calculations for Wick
- Dover outer breakwater
- Wave loads and stability calculations for Dover

5. Conclusions
- Summary of key lessons learnt
- Q & A not previously covered