Coastal engineering

Established in 1959, WRL is widely regarded as an industry leader of Coastal Engineering practice. Our site on Sydney’s Northern Beaches is home to the largest coastal hydraulics research laboratory facilities in Australia.

Investigations utilising state-of-the-art technologies in both numerical (spectral and phase resolving wave) and physical (2D flume and 3D basin) model studies include wave generation and propagation, wave run-up and overtopping, wave forces and stability of coastal structures, littoral sediment transport, tidal hydrodynamics and entrance stability, coastal and estuarine morphology, beach and shoreline erosion and estuarine sedimentation. Automated coastal imaging techniques are applied for both pre-, during, and post- assessment of the full range of coastal engineering and management activities.

Particular areas of expertise include coastal and process understanding, sea level rise effects, coastal hazard definition and inundation studies, foreshore revetment design and testing, coastal zone management, dredging and beach nourishment, design optimisation of coastal structures, harbours, ports and marinas, ‘real time’ coastal monitoring and measurement utilising leading-edge coastal imaging techniques, impact assessment of nearshore coastal structures on beach planform, peer review and forensic coastal engineering.

Key areas

Offshore and coastal structures
Ports, harbours, marinas, breakwaters & dredging operations
Sea level rise
Coastal and estuarine processes

Foreshore protection & management studies
Coastline monitoring and analysis
Coastal zone management

Example projects

CoastSnap is a global citizen science network that harnesses community captured photos to monitor changing coastlines. From humble beginnings on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, CoastSnap has grown exponentially, with hundreds of thousands of photos taken from over 600 CoastSnap Beach Monitoring Stations worldwide!

The simple system provides a platform for community members to snap images of a beach from a fixed position using their smartphones and share the images via a purposely built CoastSnap App. WRL has created a package of tools to analyse the crowd-sourced imagery, which can quantify erosion and accretion of beaches using nothing more than photos posted by members of our community. The aim of CoastSnap is to turn this incredible amount of information into something that can be used to understand how coastlines change through time – whether it be due to rising sea levels, extreme storms or other factors. Ultimately, this information can be used to improve the way coastlines are managed into the future.
WRL conducted several physical modelling projects in collaboration with SMEC for the Port of Townsville Limited, on the coastal defence structures and channel upgrade at Northern Australia’s largest container and automotive port in Queensland.

Breakwater and bund wall upgrades: 2D and quasi-3D physical modelling project to inform design upgrades to an existing breakwater and crest of bund wall. Modelling allowed armour sizing optimisation and design validation.

Channel capacity upgrade: 2D, quasi-3D and full 3D physical modelling for a navigation channel expansion and land reclamation project. The modelling included analysis and optimisation of rock armoured revetment structures, as well as analysis of wave amplification effects associated with the modified navigation channel alignment.
Erosion and recession of shorelines is a significant concern to many Pacific Island countries at the frontline of climate change. WRL have been working with the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility and Tonkin + Taylor to investigate coastal protection options used across the Pacific region, and to build on this knowledge to develop more innovative and cost effective coastal protection solutions.

The objective was to identify and develop coastal protection solutions that maximise the use of local materials and labour while, at the same time, minimising the need for imported goods and equipment – characteristics that are unique to individual islands of the region. The project not only catalogued and evaluated existing approaches to shoreline protection based on technical, social and environmental criteria; it also included a range of scale physical modelling tests to assist with developing design guidance for several of the innovative protection options identified as having high potential.
WRL’s mainstream Coastal Imaging program has achieved significant milestones recently, becoming the largest Coastal Imaging network in the world. With 45 cameras now providing continuous coverage of over 30 km of Gold Coast coastline, we have completed what is the most advanced beach monitoring system globally in collaboration with geospatial mapping specialists, Geoplex. The project being reconised with a NSW Asia-Pacific Spatial Excellence Award (APSEA) in the Technical Excellence category.

The cameras are installed along high-rise rooftops and lifeguard towers to provide images of the coastline and then combined with image-based mapping of spatial data. This information is analysed and displayed on a live dashboard to view and assess beach conditions.
There are more than 150 ocean pools worldwide, with approximately 70 of these located in NSW. Most NSW ocean pools were initially built from the late 1800s to early 1930s. The original pools had little formal engineering design, and are a highly valued local asset, now generally managed by local councils.

Due to the ageing nature of many existing ocean pools, and community aspirations for new and improved ocean pools, WRL applied contemporary coastal engineering techniques to the design of ocean pools. Our engineering recommendations were combined with the expert opinions of long-term ocean pool users and local surf life savers to develop rational criteria and methodologies for the upgrade of existing ocean pools and the creation of new ones.