Coastal Engineering - Coastal Project Planning and Design - a PDH Online Course for Engineers, Surveyors and Architects

Coastal Project Planning and Design

Course Outline

This 24-hour course provides valuable information for those individuals who design, operate and maintain coastal structures. Completion of this course will provide the student the necessary information and testing to meet the continuing education requirements in order to renew their licenses. It was designed by an instructor who has developed and implemented numerous similar training courses.

This course requires the completion of a multiple-choice quiz at its conclusion in order to obtain the necessary certification.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will be able to:

Understand the six major planning steps;
Understand planning coordination requirements;
Understand the design process basics;
Understand construction and monitoring issues;
Understand basic design criteria;
Understand the reasons for risk-based analysis;
Understand considerations for including risk-based analysis in design;
Understand site characterization;
Understand storm characteristics and meteorology;
Understand hydrodynamic processes;
Understand seasonal variability;
Understand topography and bathymetry;
Understand geomorphology, geometry and sediment characteristics;
Understand littoral drift and sediment transport patterns;
Understand shoreline change trends;
Understand land/shore use patterns;
Understand the potential impacts of a project;
Understand important environmental considerations during design;
Understand regional considerations during design;
Understand major concerns for shore protection;
Understand alternatives for shore protection;
Understand basic shore protection design constraints;
Understand beach stabilization structures;
Understand nonstructural alternatives for beach stabilization;
Understand combinations of structures;
Understand new technologies for shore protection;
Understand engineering aspects of beach-fill design;
Understand vessel requirements for navigation projects;
Understand data needs for navigation projects;
Understand channel depth considerations for navigation;
Understand channel alignment and width considerations;
Understand operation, monitoring and maintenance of navigation equipment;
Understand regional sediment management and coastal inlet processes;
Understand inlet and adjacent beach sediment budgets;
Understand engineering approaches to sediment management;
Understand engineering methods for sediment management;
Understand design considerations for habitat projects; and
Understand environmental features of traditional coastal engineering projects.

Intended Audience

The intended audience for this course is any professional who is involved in the design, operation and management of coastal structures.

Benefit to Attendees

Attendees of this course will understand the basic concepts of coastal engineering and how to implement these.

Course Introduction

With the advent of numerical models, reliable field instrumentation techniques and improved understanding of the physical relationships which influence coastal processes that lead to more sophisticated approaches in shore protection design, the US Army Corps of Engineers issued the Coastal Engineering Manual (CEM) in 2002 (EM-1110-2-1100). The over 2650 page manual was divided into six parts, each part covering multiple chapters. The parts are defined as

Part I – Introduction
Part II – Coastal Hydrodynamics
Part III – Coastal Sediment Processes
Part IV – Coastal Geology
Part V – Coastal Project Planning and Design
Part VI – Design of Coastal Project Elements

PDH Online has developed a series of courses which cover all Parts II through VI of the manual and offer 108 professional development hours to complete the entire manual. This course will look at Part V – Coastal Project Planning and Design. This course will cover basic design criteria, risk analysis ad project optimization, site characterization, shore protection projects, beach fill design, navigation projects, sediment management at inlets, and coastal engineering for environmental enhancement.

Course Content

In this course, you are required to study the US Army Corps of Engineers publication Coastal Engineering Manual, Part V, Chapters 1-7, EM 1110-2-1100.

Part V - Chapter 1 (PDF, 0.3 MB)

Part V - Chapter 2 (PDF, 3.5 MB)

Part V - Chapter 3 (PDF, 25.0 MB)

Part V - Chapter 4 (PDF, 2.8 MB)

Part V - Chapter 5 (PDF, 7.0 MB)

Part V - Chapter 6 (PDF, 4.5 MB)

Part V - Chapter 7 (PDF, 0.4 MB)

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Course Summary

This course discusses the basics of coastal project planning and design.

Related Links

For additional information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:

U.S Army Corps of Engineers

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.