UNSW Water Research Laboratory

UNSW Water Research Laboratory World leading water engineering research that results in positive impact on a global scale.

The Water Research Laboratory is a leading fundamental and applied research organisation tackling the most challenging water engineering problems faced by the world today. Based on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and part of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at UNSW Sydney, our globally esteemed laboratory spans four hectares and is home to advanced facilities, equipment and personnel co

mprising the most experienced and creative problem solvers in their respective areas of research and industry. Our prestigious record established over 60 years has made us what we are today; a leading team of specialists solving problems related to water and the environment. Our areas of expertise include:
• Coastal, ocean and estuarine engineering and management
• River flow, floodplain management and catchment hydrology
• Groundwater research and management
• Civil engineering hydraulics
• Offshore renewable energy
• Environmental studies and climate change adaptation
• EcoEng and wetland restoration

13/02/2026

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Principal Engineer Ian Coghlan will be presenting on “Physical modelling of revetment design options for Aitutaki Airport, Cook Islands” for the upcoming Conference on Physical Modelling in Coastal Engineering and Science ( ) in Chennai, India later this month: 🔗 https://doe.iitm.ac.in/coastlab26/index.html

We stability-tested a sand-filled geotextile container (“geobag”) seawall on a wave-exposed fringing reef on the island of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands, and a rock armoured seawall.

The geobag seawall captured some specific insights for design of geobag revetments on fringing reef coasts, such as the effectiveness of the reef to buffer wave loading and improve resilience for the main structure slope, and the additional consideration required to achieve stability of crest geocontainers due to overtopping of the low-crested structure design.

The rock armoured seawall demonstrated that in reeftop systems where storm waves generate significant wave setup and infragravity waves at the shore, rock armour can be displaced at the seawall crest during higher overtopping events.

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

19/12/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy – best of 2025 edition!

Here’s a recap of our most popular videos this year:

🌊 The one with the Cubipods®
🌊 The one with the offset gutter inlet
🌊 The one with the slo-mo flume wave
🌊 The one with the spectacular rock spillway fail
🌊 The one with the geobags at Aitutaki

Wishing all our followers a safe and festive holiday season - stay tuned for more in 2026! 🎉😊

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

12/12/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Continuing from last week, we are looking at a rock armoured seawall on a wave-exposed fringing reef on the island of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. This 1:19 scale model demonstrates that in reeftop systems where storm waves generate significant wave setup and infragravity waves at the shore, rock armour can be displaced at the seawall crest during higher overtopping events (watch the pink rock closely!).

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

05/12/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Recently we have been stability-testing a sand-filled geotextile container (“geobag”) seawall on a wave-exposed fringing reef on the island of Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. The geobag seawall is constructed from 2.5 m³ bags, and our testing has captured some specific insights for design of geobag revetments on fringing reef coasts, including:

▫️ The effectiveness of the reef to buffer wave loading and improve resilience for the main structure slope.

▫️ The additional consideration required to achieve stability of crest geocontainers due to overtopping of the low-crested structure design.

Stay tuned for next week’s as we continue testing on our Aitutaki seawall project…

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

28/11/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Part 3 of our wave basin model for the upgrades to Wellington Airport sea defences in New Zealand. ✈️

Testing was conducted on two separate revetment upgrade options, to optimise structure performance and reduce its footprint, saving money and carbon emissions.

This optimisation led to:
▫️ A 12% reduction in armour unit count, with a combined single and double-layer design.
▫️ A narrower crest and single-layer design in less exposed areas.
▫️ A recurve crest wall was added, which improved overtopping performance by up to 90% for extreme wave events.

Constructed and tested for Beca | UNSW | Engineering |

28/11/2025

Professor Will Glamore, from UNSW's Water Research Laboratory, is making the swamp a solution for carbon emissions reduction.

21/11/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Part 2 of our 3D wave basin model for the upgrades to the Wellington Airport sea defences in New Zealand. The preferred upgrade involved placing new concrete armour 15.5t Cubipods® units over the existing Akmons and rock infill. This is the first use of Cubipods® in the Southern Hemisphere, with the Cubipods® showing self-repairing capability when unit loss remained minimal.

🌊Constructed and tested for Beca.
UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

14/11/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

This behind-the-scenes glimpse was taken during the construction of our recently completed 3D wave basin model for the upgrades to Wellington Airport sea defences in New Zealand. Constructed for Beca, this 1:60 scale model has over 5,000 individual blocks hand placed, earning it the title of largest physical model at WRL to date!

Stay tuned for further updates on the testing of this epic project…

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

07/11/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Sound on for a stroll down memory lane to immerse yourself in the melody that played out across the lab pre-2022, pre-upgrade to our wave basin!

Our basin underwent a complete rebuild in 2022 increasing in size, depth and capability, creating a coastal investigation facility unique to Australia - featuring our much quieter 16 m wide, 24 element, segment wave maker. 🌊 🙌

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

31/10/2025

🌊🌊🌊Happy !

Last Saturday we threw open our doors to the community and had over 700 visitors tour our lab for our Open Day!

📹 Thanks to Larry Paice for capturing this little timelapse of our guests enjoying the Somerset Dam model.

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

🌊 🙌 Last Saturday we welcomed over 700 visitors into our lab for our biennial WRL Open Day! We love sharing our workplac...
31/10/2025

🌊 🙌 Last Saturday we welcomed over 700 visitors into our lab for our biennial WRL Open Day! We love sharing our workplace with our community, in particular the children who were enthusiastic to explore our lab and complete the letter quest.

During the day, in amongst our permanent flumes and displays, we had interactive mini-flumes and hands-on experiments, encouraging all visitors to comprehend water processes using their hands to engage with the models. This is a great tool to promote STEM education, assist with understanding physics, and demonstrate complex water related processes in a visual way.

We were honoured to host Michael Regan, Independent Member for Wakehurst, UNSW Vice-Chancellor & President Prof Attila Brungs, UNSW Engineering Dean Prof Julien Epps and UNSW Civil and Environmental Engineering Head of School Prof Nasser Khalili – as well as several former staff members. All our visitors were encouraged to ask questions, with our staff and students keen to share their knowledge and introduce our guests to our unique workplace.

24/10/2025

🌊💧🌧️ Tomorrow is the day!!!🥳

Our flumes are ready, the labs are s***k and span, the BBQ is warming up, and we cannot wait to welcome you to the WRL Open Day!

Tour our massive labs, meet our experts, and see engineering and science at work!

All are welcome! 😆🙌🤩

🗓️ Saturday 25 October 2025, 9am-1pm.

🔗For more information visit: https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/wrl/news-events/Events/WRL-Open-Day-2025

UNSW | UNSW Engineering |

Address

110 King Street, Manly Vale
Sydney, NSW
2093

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61280719800

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