Large scour hole at the corner of a building foundation, created by strong tsunami flow around the structure.
Research Themes
On this page you will find a description of the research currently pursued by Coastal Engineering faculty. Three overarching topics are described below, followed by links to faculty publications.
Wave and Fluid Mechanics
Whether investigating a fluid flow issue on a plantary scale or down to sub-millimeter scales, understanding the nonlinear and viscous behavior of a system using a fundamental, physics-first approach always provides the greatest physical insight. Using tools such as applied mathematics and sophisticated numerics, the primitive behavior of waves and fluids are studied.
Extreme Events
The goals of this research focus on developing sufficient scientific knowledge and appropriate engineering tools on which to base comprehensive extreme event mitigation plans and communicate this information effectively to decision makers, the emergency planning community and the public.
Coastal Resilience and Sustainability
This research aims towards developing a better understanding of nearshore wave behavior, particulary for wave interaction with coastal structures such as breakwaters, levees, seawalls, and buildings. This increased understanding should then be directly applied to design procedure, guidelines, and planning approaches.
Faculty Publication Lists
Costas Synolakis, from Google Scholar.
Patrick Lynett, from Google Scholar or Scopus.
JJ Lee, from Google Scholar.
Jose Borrero, from Google Scholar.