Ocean Engineering
The graduate program in ocean engineering is broad-based and is designed to fit the needs of graduates from most engineering disciplines as well as naval architecture graduates. The program provides studies about the ocean environment and its measurable parameters; the behavior of materials within the ocean environment; the transfer of communication characteristics of the ocean; and operational, instrumentation and other hardware capabilities within the ocean.
Some of the specialization areas within ocean engineering include coastal and ocean structures, marine engineering and naval architecture, instrumentation and communications in the ocean, wave and storm prediction, offshore pipelines design, coastal sediment processes and dredging.
No foreign language is required for the PhD in ocean engineering.
(OCEN)
671. Ocean Wave Mechanics. (3-0). Credit 3.
Wave theory and applications to engineering problems; linear and non-linear theories of regular gravity waves; wave properties and transformation in shoaling water; spectral analysis of irregular waves; forecasting, hindcasting and theoretical spectra. Prerequisite: OCEN 462 or equivalent.
672. Coastal Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.
Effects of waves on coastal structures; design of seawalls breakwaters, jetties, harbors, ship channels and pipelines; intentional and accidental discharge of pollutants; diffusion and spreading; oil spill containment and collection. Prerequisite: OCEN 671.
673. Nonlinear Hydrodynamic Problems in Ocean Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.
Nonlinear hydrodynamic problems involved with the complex offshore structures in the high sea environment; nonlinear waves application of Volterra model to weakly nonlinear systems; generation of nonlinear model waves; nonlinear hydrodynamic interaction between the waves and structure; dynamic analysis of nonlinear response of integrated offshore structures. Prerequisites: OCEN 671 and 678.
674. Ports and Harbors. (3-0). Credit 3.
Basic port planning including site selection, environmental factors and economic conditions; design of wharves, quays, jetties, breakwaters, terminals, navigational channels and fenders; harbor sedimentation and maintenance dredging; design of fishing, small craft and recreation boat harbors. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
676. Dynamics of Offshore Structures. (3-0). Credit 3.
Review of concepts of linear structural dynamic analysis for time and frequency domain simulations, functional design of off-shore platforms, pipelines, floating structures and moorings; environmental loading problems; hydrodynamic phenomena including wind and current interaction, vortex shedding and wave forces; structure-fluid interaction models. Prerequisites: OCEN 300 and 301 or approval of the instructor.
678. Fluid Dynamics for Ocean and Environmental Engineering. (3-0). Credit 3.
General conservation laws; Navier-Stokes equations; steady and unsteady Bernoulli's equation; potential flow theory and basics of panel methods; laminar and turbulent boundary layer; dispersion and diffusion processes in laminar and turbulent flow; flow past a body of any shape. Prerequisite: CVEN462 or approval of instructor.
681. Seminar. (0-2). Credit 1.
Reports and discussion of current research and of selected published technical articles.
682. Coastal Sediment Processes. (3-0). Credit 3.
Sediment properties and size distribution, fluvial sediment transport equations, movement of material by the sea, review of pertinent wave theories, littoral drift, inlet stability, coastal protection structures, similarity in sediment transport, movable bed models, sediment tracing, Aeolian sand transport, case studies. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
683. Estuary Hydrodynamics. (3-0). Credit 3.
Development of applicable equations for tidal dynamics applied to real estuaries; technology for determination of mean velocities, circulation patterns, water depths, turbulent dispersion patterns, etc. for solution of environmental problems in estuaries; physical and mathematical models. Prerequisites: Basic fluid mechanics; approval of instructor.
685. Directed Studies. Credit 1 to 12 each semester.
Special topics not within scope of thesis research and not covered by other formal courses.
688. Marine Dredging. (3-0). Credit 3.
Dredge pump selection; pump and system characteristics; cavitation; types of dredges; continental shelf and deep-ocean dredging; head loss in horizontal and vertical pipes for two and three-phase flow; design of disposal methods for dredged material; environmental effects of dredging. Prerequisite: Approval of instructor.
689. Special Topics in... Credit 1 to 4.
Selected topics in an identified area of ocean engineering. May be repeated for credit.
691. Research. Credit 1 or more each semester.
Research for thesis or dissertation.
