Organised by the IAHR Technical Committee on Coastal and Maritime Hydraulics, CoastLab conference series focus on Physical Modelling in Coastal Engineering and Science.

Coastlab24 builds on the success of previous conferences in Porto (2006), Bari (2008), Barcelona (2010), Ghent (2012), Varna (2014), Ottawa (2016), Santander (2018) and Zhoushan (2020). 

The 9th Conference on Physical Modelling in Coastal Engineering (Coastlab24) will be hosted from 13 to 16 May 2024 by the Delft University of Technology, in The Netherlands.

Since the foundation of Deltares in 1929 as a spin-off from Delft University of Technology, high-level physical modelling in coastal engineering has been conducted in Delft. So it is fitting that the leading conference focusing on physical modelling in coastal engineering will visit Delft. 

The nice town of Delft is an ideal location to spend a nice week during the conference, and the Netherlands has a large range of interesting coastal engineering projects to show as well. More information on the conference will be posted in the coming months. You can sign up to receive alerts for these updates. 

Bas Hofland, Chair of the Local Organising Committee

Topics

In the coastal zone, many developments are taking place, with much attention to themes like:

• Climate change impacts, adaptation, mitigation

• Multifunctional and nature-inclusive designs

• Development of ports and marine terminals

• Wave, wind and tidal energy

• Industrial outfalls

Papers are welcomed on all the topics where the use of physical modelling and/or measurements to tackle coastal challenges plays a large role.

To cater for these developments continuous development in modelling capabilities is required, in topics such as:

• Coastal hydrodynamics, coastal processes

• Coastal flooding, flood prevention, shore protection

• Coastal and ocean structures, breakwaters, revetments

• Scour, sediment transport, morphology

• Wave-structure interactions, loading, response

• Wave run-up and overtopping

• Laboratory technologies, measurement systems

• Synoptic measurement systems (e.g. laser scanning, imaging, motion tracking, Particle Image Velocimetry)

• Coastal field measurement and monitoring

• Wave synthesis, generation, and analysis

• Scale Effects and uncertainty analysis

• Composite modelling and validation (physical, numerical, field, and AI)

• Extreme events – assessment and mitigation

• Tsunami Hydrodynamics impacts, and Mitigation

• Mixing, water quality

• Physical modelling case studies

• Navigation, ship motions

• Infragravity waves

Keynote speakers

• Heidi Nepf. Physical modelling of coastal vegetation to improve green infrastructure design

• Josep R. Medina. Breakwaters in a living environment
  

• Emiel Boerma and Coen Kuiper. The role of physical modelling in the rehabilitation works for the Afsluitdijk

Call for abstracts

Sumbit your abstract by 29 September!

Researchers and practitioners in the field of coastal engineering are invited to submit abstracts with original and novel findings related to modelling and measurement of coastal issues. If your abstract is accepted you can present your topic at the conference in a 10 to 15-minute talk (depending on the number of participants), or by a poster if desired. 

The presenters have a choice between submitting full papers or (extended) abstracts. The full papers can be written as proceeding papers, that have a light review prior to the conference. These will be placed in the proceedings on an openly available website under a CC-BY-4.0 license. Selected high-quality papers will be invited for a Thematic Series in the Journal of Coastal and Hydraulic Structures, to be reviewed with priority. Confident authors can also submit papers directly to the JCHS Thematic Series prior to the conference. The JCHS Thematic Series will be published after the conference. In an updated version of the proceedings links will be placed to the journal papers in the Coastlab24 Thematic Series.

Key Dates

• Extended deadline for abstract submission: 29 September 2023

• Notification of acceptance: 15 October 2023

• Full paper submission: 15 December 2023

• Early bird registration: 1 February 2024

• Conference dates: 13-16 May 2024