Silt screens have been deployed extensively in lakes, rivers and oceans as a physical sediment control device to contain dispersion of silt and clay arisen from dredging activities. By changing the hydraulics of the flow in the vicinity of the project area, the presence of silt screens would affect the distribution of suspended sediment. This paper discusses the velocity profiles and turbulence – key hydraulic determinants to sediment transport – in the presence of a silt screen deployed in closed configuration. The magnitudes of the velocity and turbulence were obtained from the laboratory experiments using the technique of particle image velocimetry. The results also demonstrate that screen penetration depth is a controlling parameter of the flow characteristics. Such findings highlight that silt screen depth is a crucial design parameter in the design and deployment of silt screens.

The 24 papers and posters presented at the eighth Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference held at Bangor University in April 2012 were of a high standard, typical of that expected at a leading international conference. They gave a good indication of the breadth of basic and applied research currently being pursued in UK universities and consultancies. Papers covered a wide range of topics, including coastal management, shelf sea turbulence, renewable energy, cliff erosion, sediment transport, morphological modelling, nutrient and pollution transport, and scour protection, to mention but a few. This briefing reproduces the abstracts of the two Keynote lectures and of three presentations judged by the organising committee to be of particular merit. The next UK Young Coastal Scientists and Engineers Conference will be organised by Marine Scotland in Aberdeen in spring 2013.

The impact of tsunami-induced bores on buildings was investigated experimentally using 1:100 scale models. Three nominal wave conditions roughly equivalent to the maximum flow depths found at the modelled locations were investigated. A solitary-like wave was generated in deep water by the abrupt release of water from an elevated tank of known storage volume. This type of crest-led wave typically breaks on mildly sloping beaches and here became a bore-like broken wave before reaching the model. Based on the pressure profile at various instants in time, a simplified pressure profile is proposed for the maximum force acting on the structure during the run-up process. The force per unit width for a rectangular building is approximately the same as that experienced by a square configuration. The force on the projected area of an octagonal building, however, is reduced by about 20% compared with the square building. The reduction in wave force on the front panel is estimated to be about 25 and 50% for an opening configuration of 25 and 50%, respectively.

Hurricane waves and surges can have a crippling effect on economic growth in Caribbean island states. In reducing the vulnerability to these disasters, exposed areas to storm surge must first be identified and inundation levels predicted. Various methods and models have been applied to estimate storm surge at sub-regional scales and for coastal sites and towns. The approach used to filter and utilise the hurricane data, and the statistical methods employed to develop final values are often different. The territories through different funding agencies have sponsored several projects to map storm surge, but there has not been a single unified project or approach. This paper puts into perspective the requirements for storm surge evaluation, outlines the varying approaches relevant for the region and re-emphasises the need for an established set of regional guidelines.