Coastal Study Of Three - Dimensional Sand Transport Processes And Morphodynamics (COAST3D)

The purpose of the COAST3D project (1997-2001) was

• to improve understanding of the physics of coastal sand transport and morphodynamics

• to remedy the present lack of validation data of sand transport and morphology suitable for testing numerical models of coastal processes

• to test a representative sample of numerical models for predicting coastal sand transport and morphodynamics against this data

• to deliver validated modelling tools, and methodologies for their use, in a form suitable for coastal zone management

• to deliver a set of guidelines for practical coastal zone management (CZM)

Comprehensive datasets were collected at Egmond-aan-Zee (NL) and Teignmouth (UK) and modelling performed at both.

The project was undertaken by a consortium of 11 partners including hydraulic laboratories, universities and national regulatory authorities from five EU states (UK, Netherlands, France, Spain and Belgium). An overview of the project is available here. A video suitable for educational purposes is available for a small handling charge from the Université de Caen.

The main results are described in the Final Scientific Report and the CZM guidelines. The data from the experiments is publicly available. The full list of publications is also available. Some of the experimental and modelling results are illustrated by interesting animations.