Civil Hydraulics (CVEN90051)

AIMS

Students that successfully completely this subject will have the skills to practice under a chartered engineer to analyse problems and propose designs in the field of civil and environmental hydraulic engineering. Analysis of water flow in natural and constructed channels is studied in the river hydraulics module. This gives students the fundamental tools to learn techniques such as flood prediction, the design of channels for water movement in irrigation, and the prediction of water levels in channels in environmental flow studies. The movement of water and sediment along coasts due to wave action and currents is the focus of the coastal hydraulics module. An understanding of wave processes in coastal and surf zones is an essential starting point for the design of coastal structures such as piers, groins and jetties. With impending sea level rise, this will be a significant area of civil engineering practice for the foreseeable future. In the third module, the focus will be on processes of sediment transport and geomorphological change in rivers and coastal waters. The ability to analyse these processes can lead to graduates working in the area of river engineering, where for example the erosion of sediment from bridge abutments must be controlled. It is also important in ecological modelling where the movement of sediments and entrainment in water can impact on the habitat of stream biota.

The subject will draw on students’ existing knowledge of fluid mechanics, systems modelling, statistics, engineering mathematics and geomorphology gained from undergraduate or other preparatory study.

INDICATIVE CONTENT

1. River Hydraulics: revision of basic concepts of steady-state open channel flow and extend this with applications in natural river channels, time dependent behaviour and flood hydraulics
2. Coastal Hydraulics: basic wave theory and processes including in the surf zone
3. Sediment Transport and Water Quality: mechanisms and models of particulate and solute transport in rivers and coastal environments.