Towards a shared knowledge base for the design of coastal infrastructure
Coastal Design Support (CoDeS) tools are relatively simple mono- and interdisciplinary (software) tools aimed to support engineers in designing coastal engineering solutions and communicating the effects of these solutions to clients and stakeholders. The tools provide quick insights in orders of magnitude of typical design parameters (e.g. tide, waves, sediment transport, breakwater cross-sections/ grading) and the impacts of the design on its environment. These tools are especially useful in the early design stages – where time, budget and data are often limited or lacking – to arrive at promising solution directions. Bringing CoDeS tools together in one software environment enables coastal engineers to use, share and improve the same knowledge base, which may improve the efficiency and cooperation within projects. Moreover, an easy to use General User Interface (GUI) makes them accessible for a wide range of users (e.g. project engineers, managers, reviewers). With these starting points Royal HaskoningDHV, Witteveen+Bos and Deltares started the Joint Industry Project (JIP) CoDeS.
Objectives
The objectives of JIP CoDeS are:
- to develop a number of CoDeS tools in the Delta Shell framework (more information: www.deltares.nl/en/delta-shell-framework/), jointly creating an easy accessible platform for the exchange and dissemination of CoDeS tools
- to build an active community of developers (and users) amongst the partners
Methodology
A team of coastal engineers, programmers and managers (product owners) from the three partners worked together on tool development in sprint sessions following a SCRUM methodology (more information: http://scrummethodology.com/). Each sprint session had a clear scope and clear roles and responsibilities for the team. During the sprint sessions engineers and programmers used scripting to program CoDeS tools and link them to the Delta Shell user interface to make them easily accessible to the user community.
Results
Product
The product is a uniform GUI containing tools for:
- bathymetry data import
- wave data import and classification
- wave transformation based on linear wave theory
- tidal data import and calculation of tidal characteristics
- alongshore sediment transport rate calculations
- breakwater design
User can load data in simple ASCII formats or from global data sources - if no site-specific data is available. Based on the data the users can perform simple analyses and apply empirical engineering formulae. The results are shown on a map, in a graph or in a table, which the user can export as images for reporting purposes. The product forms a strong basis and a wide range of opportunities for future tool developments.
Process
Working together in sprints using a SCRUM methodology was found to be a very constructive and pleasant working method. The team members got hands-on training in scripting (Python) and Delta Shell in a good interaction with each other. Both the development and the use of the tools were received with great enthusiasm. The next step is to test the enthusiasm outside of the development team.
Way forward
All partners are enthusiastic to continue the cooperation and see great opportunities for future developments. Future work may aim at increasing the number of tools, strengthening the interactions between tools or extending the output with interactive visualizations. Examples are tools for coastline development, wave penetration, port & channel sedimentation, cost calculations, ecological assessments and navigability. Parties that are interested to use the tools or participate in the cooperation can contact Mr. Wiebe de Boer (wiebe.deboer@deltares.nl).
