PREFACE 



This report is published to provide coastal engineers with sufficient information for an understanding of the capabilities 

 and limitations of coastal hydrauUc models. It also provides the laboratory engineer with valuable information concerning 

 the design, construction, and operation of physical models. The work was carried out by the U.S. Army Engineer 

 Waterways Experiment Station (WES) under the coastal engineering research program of the U.S. Army G)astal 

 Engineering Research Center (CERC). 



This report is one of a series of reports to be published to form a Coastal Engineering Manual. 



The report includes information on physical modeling of waves, tides, currents, and the related sediment movement, 

 structure and harbor design problems in the coastal zone pertinent to interests of navigation, beach erosion, and control of 

 storm-generated flooding. The report was intended to be a comprehensive state-of-the-art review; however, because 

 information concerning new procedures is relatively slow in being published, and because detailed information on model 

 design, construction, and operation is often not available in the literature, the primary emphasis is on the state-of-the-art of 

 physical coastal modeling at WES. The report draws extensively from the open hterature, particularly the sections on 

 similitude, coastal harbors, and coastal structures. Continual improvements to the state-of-the-art in coastal hydraulic 

 modeling since this report was prepared, have already outdated some parts. In this report the term verification is the 

 process of adjusting model parameters until the model can reproduce measured prototype data, and normally checking the 

 adjustment by assuring the model reproduces at least two separate sets of prototype data. Abbreviations in this report 

 conform to the U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual. 



This report was prepared by WES and authored by (indicated for each of the seven Sections) Robert Y. Hudson, 

 formerly Chief, Wave Dynamics Division; Frank A. Herrmann, Jr., Assistant Chief, Hydraulics Laboratory; Richard A. 

 Sager, Chief, Estuaries Division; Dr. Robert W. Whalin, Chief, Wave Dynamics Division; Dr. Garbis H. Keulegan, Special 

 Assistant to the Chief of the Hydraulics Laboratory; Claude E. Chatham, Jr., Chief, Wave Research Branch; and Dr. 

 Lyndell Z. Hales, Wave Research Branch; under the general supervision of Henry B. Simmons, Chief, Hydraulics 

 Laboratory. Diuing the preparation of this report, the Commander and Directors of WES were Brig. Gen. E.D. Peixotto, 

 Col. G.H. Hilt, and Col. John L. Cannon. The Technical Director at WES was Mr. Frederick R. Brown. 



R.A. Jachowski, Chief, Coastal Design Criteria Branch, was the CERC contract monitor for the report, under the general 

 supervision of G.M. Watts, formerly Chief, Engineering Development Division. 



Comments on this publication are invited. 



Approved for pubUcation in accordance with PubUc Law 166, 79th Congress, approved 31 July 1945, as supplemented 

 by Public La w 1 72, 88th Congress, approved November 1963. 



TED E. BISHOP 



Colonel, Corps of Engineers 

 Commander and Director 



