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Afdeling Weg- en Waterbouw (UGent-AWW)
www.ugent.be/ea/civil-engineering/en/research/coastal-bridges-roads

English name: Coastal Engineering, Bridges and Roads

Thesaurus terms (10) : ; Breakwaters; Coast defences; Coastal engineering; Erosion protection; Measurements on prototypes; Physical modeling; Sand suppletion; Sea dikes; Wave propagation
MRG keywords (5) : Coastal defence; Construction; Hydrodynamics; Renewable energy; Sediment mechanics/dynamics
Geographical term : ANE, Belgium, Brugge, Zeebrugge [Marine Regions]
Address:
Campus Ardoyen
Technologiepark 904
9052 Gent
Belgium

Tel.: +32-(0)9-264 54 89
Fax: +32-(0)9-264 58 37
 Projects 
 
Type: Scientific

Persons formerly associated with this organization (4)  Top | Projects 

Abstract:
The Coastal Engineering, Bridges and Roads unit comprises two different research groups: 'Coastal Engineering' and 'Bridges and Roads'.

The Coastal Engineering group focuses on:
  • the design and construction of coastal structures (mainly breakwaters and sea dikes), coastal defence (protecting the hinterland from flooding by waves and sea level rise) and the structural response of these structures to wave loading (such as armour layer stability, wave overtopping and overflow, porous flow and the development of pore pressures in the core of the breakwater);
  • the interactions between water motions (waves and tides), including the associated sediment transport and the coastal structures (which may cause local erosion of the seafloor);
  • renewable wave and tidal energy.


The research group is actively involved in the system development for exploiting wave energy and in the research with regard to interaction effects within parks of wave energy convertors. The group also has extensive experience in carrying out field measurements on coastal defence systems and in the development and use of instruments for field measurements of currents and waves in oceans, estuaries and rivers. Finally, the research group is very active in the experimental and numerical modelling of wave propagation and the interaction with coastal structures.

The research methodology is based on the use and integration of physical models, numerical models and field measurements. Therefore, the group has two physical wave flumes and multiple numerical models for the propagation and transformation of wind-generated waves (MILDwave, FLOW3D, OpenFOAM) and tidal currents (COHERENS). The group coordinated the design and operational start-up of the wave tank, the Coastal & Ocean Basin (COB), in Ostend Science park.

In the future, this group will keep its focus mainly on topics such as coastal defence (particularly coastal structures) and renewable energy. The group was involved in both national and European research projects on coastal structures and offshore energy production and is a member of several consortia (Marine@UGent, WECANet, Coastlab network).

Projects (2)  Top 
  • A fundamental study on exchange processes in river ecosystems, more
  • AMIS: Study of Impact on the Environment of the Sigma plan, more

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