Coastal and Environmental Hydraulics Laboratory

The research conducted at the Coastal and Environmental hydraulics Laboratory involves the study of hydrodynamics, transport and circulation in estuaries, lakes, rivers, tidal inlets, and the coastal ocean. In particular, the research is directed to answer questions related to environmental hydraulics, such as fate and transport of contaminants in the environment, salinity and sediment transport in coastal, estuarine and riverine systems, transport in lakes and estuaries, wave climate studies, beach erosion studies and barrier island response to storms, coastal sediment transport and barrier island recovery trends, saltwater intrusion studies, and density currents. This is achieved through the use of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) programs to simulate water motion and transport in these systems, and to help use the information to observe potential implications resulting from coastal management; this includes freshwater diversions and reintroductions, changes in riverine flow and sediment load, changes in water runoff characteristics resulting from land use changes, impacts of climatic changes, impacts resulting from man-made coastal structures etc.