Associate Professor David Callaghan

Associate Professor

School of Civil Engineering
Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology
dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 53517

Overview

Before joining the University of Queensland, Dave P. Callaghan held positions within industry including Parsons Brinckerhoff and Lawson and Treloar and research sector including Nederlands Instituut voor Ecologie and the University of Queensland. He is an observer of the Queensland Water Panel and active in the newly created Australian Hydraulic Modelling Association. He is the author of a book section and more than 50 other technical documents with applied and research applications. He is a consultant to private and government organisations. He has worked recently with private and government organisations to improve understanding of extreme coastal weather responses. He is recognised for leading edge research in coastal engineering including statistics of extremes, beach erosion from extreme events, physical and biological interactions of salt marshes and coral reefs, lagoon dynamics and wave propagation.

Research Interests

  • Coastal Engineering
    All aspects of Coastal engineering including wave growth, propagation and dissipation, sediment transport and coastal morphology, surge dynamics, extreme probabilities for coastal variables including beach erosion and oceanic inundation, surf and swash zone hydrodynamics, river entrance hydraulics and morphodynamics and coastal groundwater dynamics.

Research Impacts

My research is under continued translation through Civil Engineering consulting work (coastal erosion when managing beaches under changing climate, extreme values for setting flood levels and assessing beach erosion, climate change assessments for flood hazards), Environmental Engineering consulting work (cyclone and non-cyclonic wave climates under a changing climate for the entire Great Barrier Reef, Ningaloo Reef and Jervis Bay and coral habitat mapping of the Great Barrier Reef), and through ARC linkages (Redland City Council and DHI Group), Cooperative Research Centres (Blue economy, Bushfires and natural hazards and Tourism) and National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility projects, were research was operationalised by working hand in hand with industry. My discoveries around coastal erosion and extreme values assessments are becoming the normal standard for engineering projects, particularly in NSW, which has a high wave energy coastline.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology

Publications

View all Publications

Grants

View all Grants

Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Available Projects

  • For more information, please email dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au

    We have been granted ARC (Australian Research Council) funding to investigate the flow slides and the associated erosion hazard at three levels, with likely, formal start around January 2021. It is a three pronged study with study opportunities for at least 3 PhD students. The three prongs of the study are:

    1. 2DV investigation of the vertical retreating flow slide (dilative slope failure).
    2. The formation and recovery of the erosion embayments, which typically get to a diameter of the order 50m in plan.
    3. The longer term, years to decades, development of the shoals in the channel between Nth Stradbroke and Moreton Islands in order to asses worsening versus easing of the erosion threat to the Amity point area at the planning time scale.

    1. 2DV Investigation into the vertical retreating sand faces

    Vertical retreating sand faces have been observed in nature triggered either by natural processes or dredgers. A number of details are unresolved and worthy of investigation, eg, triggering, development of a vertical face, criteria for maintaining the turbidity current.

    2. Intermediate scale investigation

    For more information, please email dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au

    Flow slide events usually leave a semi-circular indentation of the shoreline with diameter of the order 50m. It is not well understood why this is, ie, why not a more or less straight erosion front between hard boundaries? Similarly, it is surprising that, these ‘erosion bays’ are often filled back in by the natural sediment transport processes in a matter of only a couple of weeks. The ability to prevent or mitigate the erosion events would be of obvious benefit to coastal managers. So, that is the goal of our proposed investigations at these intermediate scales. This investigation will combine monitoring with down-looking cameras, and profile surveying with numerical sediment transport modelling.

    3. Large scale morphodynamic modelling

    The question: “is the erosion threat at Amity Point going to intensify or ease off over the next decade” is at the centre of this investigation. The answer is tied to the developments of the largescale channels and sandbanks between Amity Point and the southern tip off Moreton island. Hence a numerical hydraulics and sediment transport model is the large scale part of this project.

  • For more information, please email dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au

    Queensland, Australia, home of the Great Barrier Reef and beaches, which forms the foundation of the tourism industry, is exposed to annual tropical cyclones. These extreme weather events have a wide range of impacts on this industry from coral and beach damage and flooding. As the climate changes, it is expected that tropical cyclones will also change and that has several authority’s activity working on mitigation and resilience works. These tasks require estimations of wave climates during a changing climate, with significant uncertainties. Consequently, this project seeks to understanding the propagation of uncertainty in wind wave modelling from tropical cyclones that are moving through the Great Barrier Reef.

    Spatial and temporal scales of forcing uncertainty, as tropical cyclones move through coastal waters within the GBR, vary significantly. This is qualitatively different to previous work in which spatial scales over which forcing is applied was similar to metrological system applying it. Within the GBR, there are a range of spatial scales at play, from a few kilometres to hundreds of kilometres. Similarly, there are slow- and fast-moving tropical cyclone events, thus varying the temporal scale. This project will unpack those influences and develop approaches to include them efficiently when estimating wave climates generally. Those approaches will be tested on the Great Barrier Reef as an exemplar.

  • For more information, please email dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au

    There are many pressures on fish farms for moving offshore from pollution through to production. And in Australia, given our location, that means shifting into the Southern Ocean, possibility the most active ocean basin on planet earth and a region with no significant existing installations.

    This research aims to estimate wave and fluid motion forcing on a range of fish farming infrastructure to test if there are operational windows and techniques available. This research will occur in parallel with two other projects that focus on the fluid/structure interactions. This research is part of an ARC (Australian Research Council) funded project.

    It is expected that successful applicant would also become part of the CRC Blue Economy.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Featured Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Ranasinghe, Roshanka and Callaghan, David (2017). Assessing storm erosion hazards. Coastal storms: Processes and Impacts. (pp. 241-256) edited by Paolo Ciavola and Giovanni Coco. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons. doi: 10.1002/9781118937099.ch12

  • Meyer, Jan H. F., Knight, David B, Baldock, Thomas E., Callaghan, David P., McCredden, Julie and O'Moore, Liza (2016). What to do with a threshold concept: a case study. Threshold concepts in practice. (pp. 195-209) edited by Ray Land, Jan H. F. Meyer and Michael T. Flanagan. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense Publishers. doi: 10.1007/978-94-6300-512-8_15

  • Woodroffe, Colin, Callaghan, Dave, Cowell, Peter, Wainwright, David, Rogers, Kerrylee and Ranasinghe, Roshanka (2014). A framework for modelling the risks of climate-change impacts on Australian coasts. Applied Studies in Climate Adaptation. (pp. 181-189) edited by Palutikof, JP, Boulter, SL, Barnett, J and Rissik, D. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley and Sons. doi: 10.1002/9781118845028.ch20

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Patterson, Dean, Nielsen, Peter, Callaghan, Dave and Baldock, Tom (2023). A process-based numerical model of shoreface profile evolution. International Conference on Coastal Engineering 2022, Sydney, Australia, 4-9 December.

  • Twomey, Alice, O'Brien, Katherine, Callaghan, David and Saunders, Megan (2023). Wave drag coefficient useful for nature: seagrass-based coastal protection design in estuaries. 37th Conference on Coastal Engineering, Sydney, NSW Australia, 4-9 December 2022. Reston, VA USA: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.9753/icce.v37.management.57

  • Wiegerink, Johannes, Baldock, Tom, Callaghan, David and Wang, Chien Ming (2023). Novel solution for mitigating sloshing in floating closed-containment aquaculture tanks. ASME 2023 42nd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 11–16 June 2023. New York, NY United States: American Society of Mechanical Engineers. doi: 10.1115/omae2023-102097

  • Jiang, Wenping, Davies, Gareth, Callaghan, David P., Baldock, Tom and Nichol, Scott (2020). Statistical modelling of extreme ocean climate with incorporation of storm clustering. 21st International Congress on Modelling and Simulation, MODSIM 2015, Gold Coast, Australia, 29 November - 4 December 2015. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand Inc. (MSSANZ).

  • McCall, Emma L. and Callaghan, David P. (2019). Modelling stratified flow within a pacific Atoll lagoon: Manihiki, Cook Islands. Australasian Coasts and Ports 2019 Conference, Hobart, TAS, Australia, 10 - 13 September 2019. Hobart, TAS, Australia: Australian Coasts and Ports.

  • Ranasinghe, Roshanka, Wainwright, David, Callaghan, Dave and Duong, Trang (2018). The relative contribution of sea level rise and storm erosion to long term net coastline recession. 36th International Conference on Coastal Engineering 2018, Baltimore, MD United States, 30 July-3 August 2018. Reston, VA United States: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.9753/icce.v36.sediment.3

  • Callaghan, David P., Baldock, Tom E., Shabani, Behnam and Mumby, Peter J. (2017). Bayesian Belief Networks-communicating model predictions to nonexpert end users. Australasian Coasts and Ports 2017 Conference, Cairns, QLD Australia, 21-23 June 2017. Barton, ACT Australia: Engineers Australia, PIANC Australia and Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand.

  • Callaghan, David P., Couriel, Edward, Hanslow, David, Modra, Ben, Fitzhenry, Martin and Jacobs, Rob (2017). Comparing extreme water levels using different techniques and impact of climate indices. Australasian Coasts and Ports 2017 Conference, Cairns, QLD Australia, 21-23 June 2017. Barton, ACT Australia: Engineers Australia, PIANC Australia and Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand.

  • Smith, Katrina, Martin, Bronte and Callaghan, David P. (2017). Including longshore transport within a probabilistic beach erosion model. Australasian Coasts and Ports 2017 Conference, Cairns, QLD Australia, 21-23 June 2017. Barton, ACT Australia: Engineers Australia, PIANC Australia and Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand.

  • Power, Hannah E., Cossu, Remo, Callaghan, David P., Nielsen, Jesper, Hughes, Michael G. and Nielsen, Peter (2017). Lagoon stratification in Manihiki Atoll, Cook Islands. Australasian Coasts & Ports Conference, Auckland, New Zealand, 21-23 June 2017. Cairns, Australia: Engineers Australia and IPENZ.

  • Nielsen, Jesper and Callaghan, David (2017). Reverting the Brisbane River estuary from brown to blue; insights from seemingly seasonal fluctuations in turbidity. Australasian Coasts and Ports 2017 Conference, Cairns, Queensland, 21-23 June 2017 . Barton, ACT, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Hu, Zhifang and Callaghan, David P. (2017). Testing open FOAM in continental scale simulations. Australasian Coasts and Ports 2017 Conference, Cairns, Queensland, 21-23 June 2017 . Barton, ACT, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Nielsen, J. E. C. and Callaghan, D. P. (2016). Turbulence Towers, finally the ability to practically, economically and accurately measure the turbulence structure and more in rivers. International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, RIVER FLOW 2016, St. Louis, MO, United States, 11 - 14 July 2016. Boca Raton, FL, United States: CRC Press/Balkema. doi: 10.1201/9781315644479-66

  • Olfateh, Mohammad, Callaghan, David P., Baldock, Tom E. and Nielsen, Peter (2015). Tropical Cyclones asymmetry, parametric presentation and discussion. Australasian Coasts & Ports Conference 2015, Auckland, New Zealand, 15-18 September 2015. Auckland, New Zealand: Engineers Australia and IPENZ.

  • Vu, Thuy Thi Thu, Nielsen, Peter and Callaghan, David P. (2014). Monitoring inlet morphodynamics via tidal response, seen through a novel 24.5hour moving window. International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Seoul, Korea, 15-20 June 2014. San Francisco, CA, United States: Coastal Engineering Research Council. doi: 10.9753/icce.v34.posters.10

  • Vu, Thuy T. T., Nielsen, Peter and Callaghan, David P. (2014). Morphology of coastal lagoon entrances: waves versus tides. International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Seoul, Korea, 15-20 June 2014. San Francisco, CA, United States: Coastal Engineering Research Council. doi: 10.9753/icce.v34.sediment.89

  • Callaghan, David P., Vu, Thuy T. T., Hanslow, David, J., Nielsen, Peter, You, Zai-Jin and Teakle, Ian (2014). Ocean driven flooding of a coastal lake. International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Seoul, Korea, 15-20 June 2014. San Francisco, CA, United States: Coastal Engineering Research Council. doi: 10.9753/icce.v34.currents.47

  • Li, Fan, van Gelder, Pieter, Callaghan, Dave, Ranasinghe, Roshanka and Jongejan, Ruben (2013). A comparison of extreme wave climate modelling methods: A case study for the Netherlands. 35th World Congress of the International-Association-for-Hydro-Environment-Engineering-and-Research (IAHR), Chengdu, Peoples Republic of China, 08-13 September 2013. Beijing, China: Tsinghua University Press.

  • Javier, L., Woodroffe, C., Phinn, S. R., Hamylton, S., Callagan, D. P., Baldock, T. E. and Saunders, M. I. (2013). A sediment budget for Lizard Island, northern Great Barrier Reef. The 8th IAG International Conference on Geomorphology: Geomorphology and Sustainability, Paris, France, 27-31 August 2013.

  • Sugandika, Thenuwara A. N., Callaghan, David P. and Nielsen, Peter (2013). Atoll lagoon flushing at Manihiki in the Cook Islands. Coasts and Ports 2013: 21st Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the 14th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Manly, NSW, Australia, 11-13 September, 2013. Barton, ACT, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Saunders, Megan I., Baldock, Tom, Brown, Christopher J., Callaghan, David P., Golshani, Aliastair, Hamylton, Sarah, Leon, Javier, Lovelock, Catherine E., Lyons, Mitchell B., O'Brien, Katherine R., Mumby, Peter J., Phinn, Stuart R. and Roelfsema, Christiaan M. (2013). Direct and indirect impacts of predicted sea level rise on seagrass. AMSA 2013: Australian Marine Science Golden Jubilee Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, 7-11 July 2013. Kilkivan, QLD, Australia: Australian Marine Science Association (AMSA).

  • Ranasinghe, Roshanka, Callaghan, David and Roelvink, Dano (2013). Does a more sophisticated storm erosion model improve probabilistic erosion estimates?. 7th International Conference on Coastal Dynamics, Arcachon, France, 24-28 June 2013.

  • Knight, David B., Meyer, Jan H. F., Baldock, Tom E., Callaghan, David P. and McCredden, Julie (2013). Embedding metacognitive exercises in the curriculum to boost students' conceptual understanding. AAEE 2013: 24th Annual Conference of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 8-11 December, 2013. Nathan, QLD, Australia: Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University.

  • E Watterson, E., You, B., Baldock, T., Callaghan, D. and Nielsen, P. (2013). Flooding tailwater levels for NSW coastal entrances. 22nd NSW Coastal Conference, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia, 12-15 November, 2013. Coffs Harbour, NSW, Australia: East Coast Conferences.

  • McPherson, B., Young, S., Modra, B., Couriel, E., You, B., Hanslow, D., Callaghan, D., Baldock, T. and Nielsen, P. (2013). Penetration of tides and tidal anomalies in new south wales estuaries. Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 11-13 September 2013. Barton, ACT, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Wainwright, David J., Callaghan, David P., Cowell, Peter, Dougherty, Amy and Woodroffe, Colin D. (2013). Probabilistic coastal hazard lines for risk based coastal assessment. Coasts and Ports 2013: 21st Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the 14th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Manly, NSW, Australia, 11-13 September, 2013. Barton, ACT, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Wainwright, David J., Callaghan, David P., Cowell, Peter, Dougherty, Amy and Woodroffe, Colin D. (2013). Probabilistic coastal hazard lines for risk based coastal assessment. 21st Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the 14th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 11-13 September 2013. Barton, ACT, Australia: National Committee on Applied Mechanics.

  • Li, F., Van Gelder, P.H.A.J.M., Callaghan, D.P., Jongejan, R.B., Den Heijer, C. and Ranasinghe, R. (2013). Probabilistic modeling of wave climate and predicting dune erosion. 12th International Coastal Symposium, Plymouth, England, 8-12 April 2013. West Palm Beach, FL United States: Coastal Education & Research Foundation, Inc.. doi: 10.2112/SI65-129

  • Moura, Theo, Olfateh, Mohammad, Callaghan, David, Nielsen, Peter, You, Bob and Baldock, Tom (2013). Tidal amplitude and wave setup in trained and untrained river entrances. Coasts and Ports 2013: 21st Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the 14th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Manly, NSW, Australia, 11-13 September, 2013. Barton, ACT, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Gibbes, Badin, Olfateh, M., Laursen, R., Grinham, A. and Callaghan, D. (2013). Variability in estimates of wind stress on the water surface of a small coastal lagoon. PPNW2013: 16th International Workshop on Physical Processes in Natural Waters, Surfers Paradise, QLD, Australia, 7-11 July, 2013. Gold Coast, QLD, Australia: Centre for Infrastructure Engineering and Management.

  • Golshani, Aliasghar, Baldock, Tom E., Mumby, Peter J., Callaghan, David, Nielsen, Peter and Phinn, Stuart (2012). Climate impacts on hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics at reef islands. 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, Cairns, Australia, 9-3 July 2012. Townsville, Australia: James Cook University.

  • Wainwright, D., Baldock, T. and Callaghan, D. (2012). Coastal Lagoon Entrance Management - What can models tell us?. 21st NSW Coastal Conference, Kiama, NSW, Australia, 6-9 November 2012. Australia: New South Wales Coastal Conference.

  • Wainwright, David, Callaghan, David, Cowell, Peter and Woodroffe, Colin (2012). Coastal adaptation framework from geological to engineering time scales. Coast to Coast 2012, Brisbane, Australia, 17-21 September 2012.

  • Wainwright, David, Callaghan, David, Jongejan, Ruben, Ranasinghe, Roshanka and Cowell, Peter (2012). How to weigh coastal hazard against economic consequence. 33rd International Conference on Coastal Engineering 2012, ICCE 2012, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, 1-6 July 2012. Reston, VA United States: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.9753/icce.v33.posters.31

  • Vu, Thuy T. T., Nielsen, Peter, Callaghan, David P. and Nghiem, Lam T. (2012). Inferring inlet morphodynamics and hydraulic parameters from tidal records of Avoca Lake, NSW, Australia. Fourth International Conference on Estuaries and Coasts, Hanoi, Vietnam, 8-12 October 2012. Hanoi, Vietnam: Water Resources University.

  • Othman, Ilya Khairanis, Baldock, Tom E. and Callaghan, David P. (2012). Measurement and modeling of the influence of grain size and pressure gradients on swash zone sediment transport. International Conference on Coastal Engineering (ICCE2012), Santander, Spain, 1-6 July 2012. United States: Coastal Engineering Research Council. doi: 10.9753/icce.v33.sediment.58

  • Meyer, Jan, Knight, David, Baldock, Tom, Kizil, Mehmet, O'Moore, Liza and Callaghan, David (2012). Scoping metalearning opportunity in the first three years of engineering. 23rd Annual Conference of the Australasian Association of Engineering Education (AAEE 2012), Melbourne, Australia, 3 - 5 December 2012. Melbourne, Australia: Swinburne University of Technology.

  • Ranasinghe, R., Jongejan, R. B., Callaghan, D. P. and Vrijling, H. (2012). Sea-level rise impacts on seagrass in coral reef ecosystems: effects of wave-driven hydrodynamics. 50th Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA) Conference, Venice, Italy, 3-7 June 2012.

  • Wainwright, D. J., Baldock, T. E. and Callaghan, D. P. (2012). Statistical modelling of coastal lagoon barrier height to inform coastal design and planning. Coast to Coast 2012, Brisbane, Australia, 17-21 September 2012.

  • Aliasghar, G., Baldock, T. E., Mumby, P. and Callaghan, D. P. (2012). Study of climate change impact on reef island shores using the swan model. Coast to Coast 2012, Brisbane, Australia, 17-21 September 2012.

  • Vu, Thuy T.T, Nielsen, P., Callaghan, D. P. and Hanslow, D. J. (2011). Application of the wave pump concept to simulate tidal anomalies in Lake Conjola, NSW. Sixth International Conference on Asian and Pacific Coasts (APAC 2011), Hong Kong, China, 14-16 December 2011. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company. doi: 10.1142/9789814366489_0096

  • Callaghan David P., Stewart, Jared, Nielsen, Peter and Baldock, Tom E. (2011). Storm surge estimates using wind stress coefficients determined from wind-wave growth observations. 20th Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference and the 13th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference, Perth, Australia, 28-30 September 2011. Nedlands, W.A., Australia: The University of Western Australia.

  • Jafari, Alireza, Cartwright, Nick, Nielsen, Peter and Callaghan, David (2011). Stormy wave analysis based on field observation on south-east coasts of Queensland. 34th IAHR World Congress, 33rd Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium and 10th Conference on Hydraulics in Water Engineering, Brisbane, Qld, Australia, 26 June-1 July 2011. Brisbane, Australia: Engineers Australia.

  • Stewart, Jared, Callaghan, David and Shabani, Behnam (2010). Gold Coast Seaway: ocean surface, wave setup and TC Roger. The Australian Wind-Waves Research Science Symposium 2010, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 19-20 May, 2010. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research, CSIRO.

  • Ranasinghe, Roshanka, David Callaghan and Stive, Marcel J. F. (2009). A process based approach to derive probabilistic estimates of coastal recession due to sea level rise. 6th International Conference on Coastal Dynamics, Tokyo, Japan, 7-11 September 2009. Singapore: World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789814282475_0133

  • Ranasinghe, R., Callaghan, D. and Stive, M. J. F. (2009). Probabilistic modelling of coastal recession due to sea level rise. 19th Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference 2009, COASTS 2009 and the 12th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference 2009, PORTS 2009, Wellington, 16-18 September 2009. Red Hook, NY United States: Curran Associates, Inc..

  • Callaghan D., Ranasinghe R., Nielsen P., Larson M. and Short A. (2009). Process-determined coastal erosion hazards. 31st International Conference on Coastal Engineering, ICCE 2008, Hamburg, 31 August-5 September 2008. Reston, VA United States: American Society of Civil Engineers. doi: 10.1142/9789814277426_0351

  • Callaghan D.P., Larson M. and Ranasinghe R. (2007). A process-based profile evolution model to simulate dune erosion. 18th Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference 2007, COASTS 2007 and the 11th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference 2007, PORTS 2007, Melbourne, VIC, July 18, 2007-July 20, 2007.

  • Callaghan D.P., Boswood P.K. and Voisey C. (2007). Modelling Queensland tides from the gold coast to cooktown. 18th Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference 2007, COASTS 2007 and the 11th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference 2007, PORTS 2007, Melbourne, VIC, July 18, 2007-July 20, 2007.

  • Callaghan, D. P., Callaghan, J., Nielsen, P. and Baldock, T. E. (2006). Generation of extreme wave conditions from an accelerating tropical cyclone. 30th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, San Diego, U.S., 3–8 September, 2006. Hackensack, N.J. ; London: World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789812709554_0064

  • Callaghan D., Nielsen P. and Baldock T. (2005). Practical aspects of coastal morphodynamic model calibration. 17th Australasian Coastal and Ocean Engineering Conference 2005, COASTS 2005 and the 10th Australasian Port and Harbour Conference 2005, PORTS 2005, Adelaide, SA, September 20, 2005-September 23, 2005.

  • Callaghan, D., Baldock, T. E., Nielsen, P., Hanes, D., Haas, K. and MacMahan, J. (2004). Pulsing and circulation in rip current system. 26th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, Lisbon, Portugal, 19 - 24 September, 2004. City of Singapore, Singapore: World Scientific. doi: 10.1142/9789812701916-0119

  • Callaghan, D., Nielsen, P., Sysserman, J. and Broeker, I. (2003). Morphological model for a fixed bypass system. 28th International Conference Coastal Engineering, Cardiff, U.K., 2002. River Edge, N.J.: World Scientific Publishing. doi: 10.1142/9789812791306_0322

  • Callaghan, D. P. and Nielsen, P. (2003). Morphological modeling of the tweed river tidal entrance. Coasts and Ports Australasian Conference 2003, Auckland, New Zealand, 9-12 September 2003. New Zealand: NZ Coastal Society.

  • Cartwright, N. B., Nielsen, P., Li, L. and Callaghan, D. P. (2003). Watertable Waves in Unconfined Aquifers: Sloping Boundary Effects. Coasts and Ports Australasian Conference 2003, Auckland, New Zealand, 9-12 September 2003. New Zealand: NZ Coastal Society.

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

Completed Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • For more information, please email dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au

    We have been granted ARC (Australian Research Council) funding to investigate the flow slides and the associated erosion hazard at three levels, with likely, formal start around January 2021. It is a three pronged study with study opportunities for at least 3 PhD students. The three prongs of the study are:

    1. 2DV investigation of the vertical retreating flow slide (dilative slope failure).
    2. The formation and recovery of the erosion embayments, which typically get to a diameter of the order 50m in plan.
    3. The longer term, years to decades, development of the shoals in the channel between Nth Stradbroke and Moreton Islands in order to asses worsening versus easing of the erosion threat to the Amity point area at the planning time scale.

    1. 2DV Investigation into the vertical retreating sand faces

    Vertical retreating sand faces have been observed in nature triggered either by natural processes or dredgers. A number of details are unresolved and worthy of investigation, eg, triggering, development of a vertical face, criteria for maintaining the turbidity current.

    2. Intermediate scale investigation

    For more information, please email dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au

    Flow slide events usually leave a semi-circular indentation of the shoreline with diameter of the order 50m. It is not well understood why this is, ie, why not a more or less straight erosion front between hard boundaries? Similarly, it is surprising that, these ‘erosion bays’ are often filled back in by the natural sediment transport processes in a matter of only a couple of weeks. The ability to prevent or mitigate the erosion events would be of obvious benefit to coastal managers. So, that is the goal of our proposed investigations at these intermediate scales. This investigation will combine monitoring with down-looking cameras, and profile surveying with numerical sediment transport modelling.

    3. Large scale morphodynamic modelling

    The question: “is the erosion threat at Amity Point going to intensify or ease off over the next decade” is at the centre of this investigation. The answer is tied to the developments of the largescale channels and sandbanks between Amity Point and the southern tip off Moreton island. Hence a numerical hydraulics and sediment transport model is the large scale part of this project.

  • For more information, please email dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au

    Queensland, Australia, home of the Great Barrier Reef and beaches, which forms the foundation of the tourism industry, is exposed to annual tropical cyclones. These extreme weather events have a wide range of impacts on this industry from coral and beach damage and flooding. As the climate changes, it is expected that tropical cyclones will also change and that has several authority’s activity working on mitigation and resilience works. These tasks require estimations of wave climates during a changing climate, with significant uncertainties. Consequently, this project seeks to understanding the propagation of uncertainty in wind wave modelling from tropical cyclones that are moving through the Great Barrier Reef.

    Spatial and temporal scales of forcing uncertainty, as tropical cyclones move through coastal waters within the GBR, vary significantly. This is qualitatively different to previous work in which spatial scales over which forcing is applied was similar to metrological system applying it. Within the GBR, there are a range of spatial scales at play, from a few kilometres to hundreds of kilometres. Similarly, there are slow- and fast-moving tropical cyclone events, thus varying the temporal scale. This project will unpack those influences and develop approaches to include them efficiently when estimating wave climates generally. Those approaches will be tested on the Great Barrier Reef as an exemplar.

  • For more information, please email dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au

    There are many pressures on fish farms for moving offshore from pollution through to production. And in Australia, given our location, that means shifting into the Southern Ocean, possibility the most active ocean basin on planet earth and a region with no significant existing installations.

    This research aims to estimate wave and fluid motion forcing on a range of fish farming infrastructure to test if there are operational windows and techniques available. This research will occur in parallel with two other projects that focus on the fluid/structure interactions. This research is part of an ARC (Australian Research Council) funded project.

    It is expected that successful applicant would also become part of the CRC Blue Economy.

  • For more information, please email dave.callaghan@uq.edu.au

    We have been granted ARC (Australian Research Council) funds and have established permanent facilities to measure cross-shore water level (to cm accuracy) using tubes, lasers and cameras. This provides information that allows the unpacking of why observed surges at this site are between two and three times that predicted using current technology. The project would involve three phases, laboratory experiments that mirror the field site, field measurements during either tropical or ex-tropical cyclone conditions or east coast low (usually one major event annually) and analytical extensions to existing numerical models to incorporate the new process understanding.