Ocean Courses

OE 501 Oceanography
Geophysical description of the earth; the extent, shape and structure of ocean basins; relief of the sea floor; chemistry of sea water; geochemical balances; physical properties of water and sea water; solar and terrestrial radiation; evaporation and precipitation over the oceans; dissolved gases in sea water; distribution of variables; general oceanic circulation.

OE 526 Computer-Aided Aspect of Naval Architecture*
Basic principles and design calculations in naval architecture as an extension of OE 525 PNA course with emphasis placed on the application of computers. Computer-aided studies of hull-forms, intact stability, damaged stability, resistance and propulsion characteristics, course-keeping analysis, ship motion predictions. Problems in the area of naval architecture will be considered on computers through time-sharing systems.

OE 528 Computer-Aided Ship Design*
Computer-aided design procedures to achieve mission requirements for various ship types through design spirals. Determination of major dimension and performance analysis during preliminary design stage. Computer graphics on mainframe and microcomputers as design tools. Pertinent design procedures are covered in a computer-aided manner.

OE 614 Economic Issues in Maritime Systems
This course introduces students to the unique economic issues facing today’s port developers and operators. The economic considerations essential to the efficient movement of cargo from vessels to inland transportation systems are discussed. Students are introduced to concepts related to the optimization of port manpower, energy, and infrastructure as a means of assuring competitiveness in the global marketplace. Students are also introduced to the principles of port financial strategies, with examples given from port authorities in the United States and abroad.

OE 616 Sediment Transport
Theory of sediment transport in open channel flow, including applications to riverine, ocean, and coastal environments. Topics covered include boundary layer dynamics, the initiation of motion, sediment characteristics, suspended load and bed load. Applications include the estimation of transport rates in waves and currents, and the influence of hydraulic structures.

OE 618 HAZMAT Spill Response Planning
This course is designed to introduce students to the state-of-the-art in spill response planning. Numerical and analytical techniques for the prediction of fate and effects of in-water spills are discussed. Spill cleanup technologies are introduced, including mechanical (e.g., booms, skimmers), chemical (e.g., dispersants), and biological. Students are instructed in the essential steps toward developing an effective spill response plan. Special attention is paid to the influence of spill characteristics and environmental factors — waves, currents, shoreline geometry, sensitive ecological areas, etc. — in the selection of an appropriate planning strategy. Examples are given of existing spill response plans in the New York/New Jersey region, and case studies of actual spills are discussed as a means of providing students with an understanding of the complexities of operational spill response planning. Also offered as EN 618.

OE 620 Design of Coastal Structures
This course is intended to provide a detailed understanding of the design process in coastal engineering, including the statistical evaluation of oceanographic and meteorological forces and the use of physical and computer models in the assessment of design performance. The essential features of the design of several types of coastal structures will be presented, along with the relevant design relations and/or publicly available design software. The potential environmental impacts of the construction of the various coastal structures considered will also be discussed. A series of case studies and a comprehensive design project provide the opportunity to apply the principles examined. Prerequisites: undergraduate fluid mechanics, statics and dynamics or equivalent.

OE 622 Design of Port Structures I
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of port structures design, including design codes, guidelines, and functional requirements. Students are instructed in optimization procedures for port and marine terminal layout, including issues related to navigation channels and dredging, shore infrastructure and utilities, land reclamation, and environmental and economic considerations. Structural, geotechnical, and materials considerations are discussed for a variety of environmental conditions, including extreme wave and current environments, ice, and seismic loading. Examples and case studies from actual port design projects are utilized to a great extent in the delivery of the course material.

OE 623 Design of Port Structures II
This course instructs students in the functional design of the various components of ports and marine terminals, including steel, concrete, timber, and stone structures. Students are introduced to the detailed design procedures for a variety of structure types, including bulkheads and piers, fender and mooring systems, and breakwaters and revetments. Special considerations such as sedimentation/dredging, structure inspection and rehabilitation, vessel motions, and port downtime are discussed. Students receive instruction in the use of computer and physical model studies in support of structure design. Environmental and permitting issues are discussed.

OE 626 Port Planning and Development
This course introduces students to the evaluation and optimization of port and harbor layout from the standpoint of safe and efficient vessel navigation and cargo loading and unloading. Students receive instruction in the analysis tools and procedures used in the assessment of vessel motions — while underway in open water and in navigation channels, and while at dock. The evaluation of long wave motions and harbor resonance problems are discussed, as is risk-based analysis of port and harbor protection (e.g., breakwaters). Students will be introduced to computer models used in the evaluation of these issues, and will make extensive use of the models in the conduct of in-class case studies of port and harbor layouts.

OE 628 Maritime Safety
This course introduces students to the various safety issues of concern to port management officials, including those related to cargo (e.g., oil spills) and those related to vessel traffic (e.g., collisions). Students receive instruction in the procedures required for the identification, prevention, and mitigation of problems associated with the various threats to the sensitive marine environment and to the safe passage of cargo-carrying vessels. Students are introduced to the concepts of risk assessment, contingency planning, vessel traffic management systems, and spill response planning. State, Federal, and international regulations and guidelines related to maritime safety are discussed. Case studies from the New York/New Jersey region and other port regions are employed in the delivery of this instruction.

OE 630 Hydrodynamics
Development of the kinematic and dynamic equations for incompressible fluid flow, Navier-Stokes equation, velocity potential and stream function, Bernoulli’s equation, conformal mapping, free surface flows, wave theory, flow in porous media, turbulence. Prerequisites: Ma 227 or equivalent, and CE 336.

OE 631 Fluid Dynamics for Ocean Engineering
Cavitation, two-dimensional flows, complex velocity and complex potential; concentrated and distributed singularities, lift-drag Kutta condition, D’Alembert paradox, Blasius theorem, Karman vortex street. Conformal mapping, Möbius transformation, Schwartz-Christoffel transformation. Applications, added mass and virtual mass, Taylor’s added mass theorem, Lagally theorem, Navier-Stokes’ equation, exact solutions for parallel flow, Couette flow, Poiseuille flow. Unsteady problems: boundary layer Reynolds number, flat plate boundary layer, Von Karman integral method Pohlhausen solution. Prerequisites: OE 630.

OE 633 Dynamic Oceanography
Gravity and rotation of earth, continuity considerations, dynamic equations of motion, gradient currents, stationary accelerated currents, turbulence, analysis of temperature-salinity diagrams, internal friction and modification of geostrophic currents, wind driven currents, horizontal circulation of wind driven current.

OE 634 Air-Sea Interactions: Theory and Measurement*
Momentum, heat and water flux across the air-sea interface, shear stress and the neutral wind profile, adiabatic lapse rate in the lower atmosphere, static and dynamic stability of a stratified fluid, effects of stability on transfer processes in the lower atmosphere and ocean surface layer, direct measurement of eddy flux, indirect determination of eddy flux from routine shipboard meteorological observations. Prerequisite: OE 633.

OE 635 Stochastic Analysis of Ocean Waves
Introduction to probability theory; statistical techniques for characterizing random variables and evaluation of data; statistical techniques for analyzing stochastic processes; application of power spectral density techniques to the representation of the sea surface and other stochastic marine processes.

OE 636 Topics in the Application of Stochastic Process Theory in Ocean Engineering*
An expansion upon three important topics introduced in OE 205. The first topic is random data reduction and interpretation in ocean engineering; that is, basic methods of auto- and cross-spectral analysis, statistical errors, design of experiments and directional-wave spectra estimation. The second deals with the application of probabilistic design methods in ocean engineering, and the third is a survey of the state of the art of marine applications of non-linear random process theory. Prerequisite: OE 635.

OE 637 Estuarine Oceanography
Classification of estuaries; salt balance equation, forms of the salt balance equation for major types of estuaries, equations of motion, estuarine circulation, diffusion and dispersion in estuaries. Prerequisite: OE 633.

OE 641 Dynamics of Ocean Waves
Description and formulation of wave problems in the ocean, development of classical wave theory, free waves and forced waves induced by pulsating and uniformly translating pressures and sources in steady and unsteady states, diffraction, refraction and reflection of waves, application to floating breakwaters and harbor oscillations.

OE 642 Motion of Vessels in Waves
Dynamic response of a ship in regular and irregular seas, the equation of motion with six degrees of freedom, added mass and damping coefficient of an oscillating ship on the free surface, coupled equation of motion of a ship in waves, description of ship motion in the irregular sea with the discussion leading to non-linear equations of motion. Prerequisite: OE 641.

OE 643 Stability and Control of Marine Craft*
Basic concepts of stability and automatic control, equations of motion of marine craft, representation of hydrodynamic forces and moments, equi-librium conditions and perturbation equations, stability criteria, Routh-Hurwitz method, directional stability and maneuvering control, effects of wind, waves and restricted waters, stability of towed bodies, anti-rolling and anti-pitching control systems, dynamic simulations of marine systems.

OE 644 Design of Ship Propellers*
Fundamentals of two-dimensional flow about hydrofoils, including design of camber lines for specified pressure distributions and the inverse problem, characteristics of thickness distribution, predictions of cavitation inception as a function of thickness, camber and departure from ideal angle of attack. Three-dimensional flows about lifting signs of large and small aspect ratios. Momentum theory applied to propellers to determine ideal efficiency, lifting line and lifting surface models of propellers. The use of openwater design charts for determination of optimum pitch, diameter and revolutions. Exercise of computer program for preliminary design. Introduction to concepts leading to assessment of vibratory forces and hull forces. Prerequisites: OE 525 and OE 630.

OE 645 Hydrodynamics of High-Speed Marine Craft*
Planing craft, life, drag, wetted area of hull, appendage drag, propeller effect direct and indirect, spray formation, impact loads in smooth water and waves; porpoising, rough water behavior, tank test procedures.

OE 647 Advanced Hydrodynamic Laboratory*
Several of the important theories germane to ocean engineering are reviewed or developed and used to predict body or fluid behavior. These predictions are then compared with results obtained by the student using the Davidson laboratory research facilities. Prerequisites: OE 525, OE 527, OE 630, OE 641.

OE 648 Numerical Hydrodynamics*
Potential flows around bodies: panel singularities methods and conformal mapping methods. Finite-difference and spectral methods for Poisson equations: numerical inversion of matrices, potential flows in or around irregular domains. Consistency, stability and convergence of numerical methods: linear stability analysis. Numerical methods for diffusion equations: methods for ordinary differential equations. One-dimensional Burgers equation: non-linear problems, Newton iteration, error analysis. Numerical methods for stream function vorticity equations: flows in or around irregular domains. Current research in computational fluid dynamics: discussions. Four (4) exercise projects and one (1) examination project will be assigned to each student. Prerequisites: Computer Programming.

OE 683 Coastal Oceanography for Environmental Engineers*
See description for EN 683.

OE 688 Coastal Ocean Dynamics I*
Mechanics of rotating flow; inviscid shallow-water theory: topographic Rossby Waves; effects of friction: the Ekman theory; wind-driven ocean circulation: coastal ocean modeling, supercomputing applications, dispersion, and mixing in coastal waters. Prerequisites: Ma 529 and OE 501 or the equivalent.

OE 690-691 Special Topics in Ocean Engineering I, II*
An advanced seminar course concerned with recent research developments in ocean engineering. Special emphasis will be placed on developments in theoretical and applied hydrodynamics. Topics are subject to the current interest of the faculty and students. Prerequisite: OE 630, OE 631.

OE 800 Special Problems in Ocean Engineering*
One to six credits. Limit of six credits for the degree of Master of Engineering (Ocean).

OE 801 Special Problems in Ocean Engineering*
One to six credits. Limit of six credits for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

OE 900 Thesis in Ocean Engineering*
Five to ten credits with departmental approval for the degree of Master of Engineering (Ocean)

OE 960 Research in Ocean Engineering*
Original basic research of high level design in ocean engineering which may serve as the basis for the dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Credits to be arranged.

*by request