Abstract:

In the subjects of the maritime engineering area that are taught in the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid have been included a series of laboratory lessons in which students can observe in tests in reduced physical model some phenomena that are important for the proper understanding of these subjects.

This manuscript describes the designed tests and how they are integrated within the teaching in the classroom. They are the ideal complement together with the classes of exercises for the comprehension of the theoretical concepts of the subjects.

Several tests have been designed so that the students can understand in an experimental way some concepts of wave mechanics and hydraulic behaviour of marine structures.

The tests are carried out in the multidirectional wave generation basin of the Environment, Coast and Ocean Research Laboratory (ECOREL) of the School of Civil Engineering. The basin is 33 meters long by 11 meters wide and it has a draught of 1.5 meters. It is equipped with a multidirectional wave generation system, both regular and irregular. The laboratory lessons are focused on the following tests: behavior of a floating body to the variation of the wave periods of the incident waves, tests of overtopping on habour breakwaters and evolution of damages in the main armour layer on rubble mound breakwaters.

The paper includes a description of the tests carried out in order to serve as a basis for other university degrees where maritime engineering subjects are taught and which have a laboratory for tests in a reduced physical model.

The definition of these tests is a great contribution since they can be used in other maritime engineering subjects. In addition, the planning of how it has been implemented and the lessons learned are of great value for any subject.

Keywords:

Laboratory activities, maritime engineering, breakwaters, waves.