A UGR researcher develops a method for simulating beach line evolution

The objective of this research is to develop a simple and complete tool which allows professionals to deal with decision-making in an uncertainty context in relation to beach evolution; the study has been developed by Andrés Payo García, who states that “In the context of the tasks of Comprehensive Management of Coast Areas, uncertainty about long-term evolution of the superficial area of large sections of coast (tens of kilometers), plays a determinant role in the planning stage. Specifically, when it is necessary to take decisions in a sequential way which may generate impact in the coast area. This work proposes a method which allows, not only to simulate beach line evolution on a large scale, but to estimate the uncertainty associated to prediction too.”

The suggested method in this research work “tries to estimate not only the beach response against climate agents but to quantify occurrence probability. Knowing this, the costs in case of failure and the necessary investment to avoid such failure, makes decision-taking easier in an uncertainty context like coast management.”

Reference: Andrés Payo García
Dpt. of Mechanics of Continuous Means and Theory of Structures.
University of Granada.
E-mail: andrespg@ugr.es