The Practical Course in Coastal Engineering gives students an insight into physical experiments related to coastal engineering research. The focus is on the planning, implementation and evaluation of physical experiments in the laboratory of the Leichtweiß Institute. In this context, experiments are carried out in the demonstration channel, recorded data are evaluated and analyzed using Python, and the results are presented in a report. The report includes a description of the experimental setup, the presentation of the evaluated data as well as a discussion of possible sources of error and model effects.
In the current version of the Practical Course, the wave attenuating effect of coastal vegetation (Spartina anglica) is quantified. For this purpose, model plants produced by 3D printing are inserted in the demonstration channel. Regular waves are generated with a wave machine and time series of the water surface upstream and downstream of the vegetation field are measured using ultrasonic wave gauges to quantify the wave attenuating effect of the vegetation.