- Room 203, Marine Building, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 586148
- D.Simmonds@plymouth.ac.uk

Profiles
Dr David Simmonds
Associate Professor in Coastal Engineering
School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (Faculty of Science and Engineering)
Biography
Biography
Associate Head of Marketing and International Recruitment, School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics
Qualifications
PhD - School of Physics, University of Bath, 1993. "The use of a water filled impedance tube for the acoustic characterisation of polymers."
MSc - Marine Geotechnics, UCNW, University of Wales, 1989. Thesis Title "The detection of suspended sediment by acoustic backscatter measurement: a laboratory study."
MA - Natural Sciences, Cambridge, 1988.
Professional membership
Member of Institute of Physics
Chartered Physicist
Fellow HEA
Teaching
Teaching
Teaching interests
Associate Professor in Coastal Engineering
Teaches on Civil Engineering MEng, BEng and Foundation degrees.
- Foundation Civil Engineering
- Introduction to Coastal Engineering (2nd year)
- Flood Risk (4th year)
Research
Research
Research interests
My research interests have focused on underwater and marine topics. Whilst studying, I investigated the optical reflectivity of young sea ice, the acoustic detection of sediment and the acoustic properties of polymer materials. At Plymouth I have studied the physical science of coastal systems, particularly the behaviour of beaches and the performance of man made coastal structures. I have contributed to understanding of flood defence science and flood risk – most recently in supervising a PhD focused on the representation of the statistics of failure mechanisms associated with structures such as sea walls and beaches.
Research groups
- Centre for Coastal and Ocean Science and Engineering (CCOSE)
- COAST Engineering Research Group
- Marine Institute
Other research
I currently work in marine renewable energy studies, having contributed to the creation of our COAST laboratory with my colleagues Professors Deborah Greaves and Alison Raby. I have helped with the supervision of PhDs related to modelling of wave energy devices and laboratory measurement. I currently supervise PhD work focused on the statistics of wave energy device performance and reliability. I am also leading our contribution to the PORTOS project: Ports towards energy self sufficiency. This Atlantic Area Interreg project will provide tools and strategies which can be used by European port operators to enhance their adoption of sustainable energy sources.
I am also working the the Interreg project ICE: Intelligent Community Energy, which is also aimed at increasing the uptake of sustainable energy technologies, but this time in small isolated communities such as islands and university campuses.
Research degrees awarded to supervised students
2005 Adrian Pedrozo-Acuna, PhD: Concerning Swash on Steep Beaches (Awarded)
2005 Ying Li, PhD: Investigation of multi-scale variability of beach profiles (Award pending)
1998 Francoise Ozanne, PhD: Performance of a Boussinesq Model for Shoaling and Breaking Waves.
Grants & contracts
Current funding:
EU Atlantic Area Interreg: PORTOS – Ports towards renewable energy
EU Channel Area Interreg: ICE – Intelligent Community Energy
Previous UK funding
SWRDA (SW Regional Development Agency): - Wave modelling for the Wave Hub (WM4WH) Peninsula Research Institute in Marine Renewable Energy (PRIMARE, 387k) Prof D Reeve, Dr D Simmonds, Dr S Pan, Dr V Magar, Prof A Chadwick
EPSRC: - A Risk-based Framework for Predicting Long-term Beach Evolution (£423,123) Prof Dominic Reeve; Prof Andrew Chadwick; Dr Mark Spivack (Cambridge); Dr Ping Dong (Dundee); Dr David Simmonds; Dr Mark Davidson October 2005 - September 2006.
EPSRC i-CASE studentship in collaboration with HR Wallingford:- Fragility of Coastal Defences
Open University PhD led by HR Wallingford: The Effect of Grain Size Distribution and Bimodal Sea States on Coarse Beach Sediment Dynamics
Previous EU funding
EU project: Innovative coastal technologies for safer European coasts in a changing climate (THESEUS) [244104/FP7-ENV-2009-1]
Interreg projects:
MERIFIC
OFELIA
Publications
Publications
Key publications
Key publications are highlighted
Journals