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James Kirby
Ph.D, University of Delaware
Edward C. Davis Professor

Office: 201 Ocean Engineering Lab
Phone: (302) 831-2438
Fax: (302) 831-1228
Email: kirby@udel.edu
Curriculum Vitae:  pdf
Web Page:  http://chinacat.coastal.udel.edu/~kirby/

[ Short Bio | Education | Awards | Select Publications | Courses ]

Short Bio

Research Interests:
 Ocean surface waves, nearshore hydrodynamics and sediment transport; tsunamis; time series analysis

Education

1983: Ph.D, University of Delaware
1976: Master, Brown University
1975: Bachelor, Brown University

Honors and Awards

Nominated for University Excellence in Teaching Award: 2008
Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize: American Society of Civil Engineers, 1992.

Select Publications

Gobbi, M. F. and Kirby, J. T., 1999, "Wave evolution over submerged sills: Tests of a high-order Boussinesq model", Coastal Engineering, 37, 57-96, and erratum, 40, 277, 2000.

 

Kennedy, A. B, Chen, Q., Kirby, J. T., and Dalrymple, R. A., 2000, "Boussinesq modeling of wave transformation,breaking and runup. I: One dimension", Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering,126, 39-47.

 

Chen, Q., Kirby, J. T., Dalrymple, R. A., Kennedy, A. B. and Chawla, A., 2000, "Boussinesq modeling of wave transformation, breaking and runup. II: Two horizontal dimensions", Journal of Waterway, Port,Coastal and Ocean Engineering, 126, 48-56.

 

Gobbi, M. F., Kirby, J. T. and Wei, G., 2000, "A fully nonlinear Boussinesq model for surface waves. II.Extension to O(kh4)" , Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 405, 181-210.

 

Chawla, A. and Kirby, J. T., 2000, "A source function method for generation of waves on currents in Boussinesq models", Applied Ocean Research, 22, 75-83.

 

Kennedy, A. B., Dalrymple, R. A., Kirby, J. T. and Chen, Q., 2000, "Determination of inverse depths using direct Boussinesq modelling", Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering, 126, 206-214.

 

Svendsen, I. A., Veeramony, J., Bakunin, J. and Kirby, J. T., 2000, "The flow in weak turbulent hydraulic jumps", Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 418, 25-57.

 

Kennedy, A. B., Kirby, J. T., Chen, Q. and Dalrymple, R. A., 2001, "Boussinesq-type equations with improved nonlinear behaviour", Wave Motion, 33, 225-243.

 

Shi, F., Dalrymple, R. A., Kirby, J. T., Chen, Q. and Kennedy, A., 2001, "A fully nonlinear Boussinesq model in generalized curvilinear coordinates", Coastal Engineering, 42, 337-358.

 

Kennedy, A. B., Kirby, J. T. and Gobbi, M. F., 2002, "Simplified higher order Boussinesq equations. 1: Linear considerations", Coastal Engineering, 44, 205-229.

 

Chawla, A. and Kirby, J. T., 2002, "Current limited wave breaking at or before the blocking point in monochromatic and random waves", Journal of Geophysical Research, 107(C7), doi:10.1029/2001JC001042

 

Misra, S. K., Kennedy, A. B. and Kirby, J. T., 2003, "An approach to determining nearshore bathymetry using remotely sensed ocean surface dynamics", Coastal Engineering, 47, 265-293.

 

Shi, F., Kirby, J. T., Dalrymple, R. A., Chen, Q., 2003, "Wave simulations in Ponce de Leon Inlet using a Boussinesq model", Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering, 129, 124-135.

 

Kennedy, A. B. and Kirby, J. T., 2003, "An unsteady wave driver for narrow-banded waves: Modeling nearshore circulation driven by wave groups", Coastal Engineering, 48, 257-275.

 

Shi, F., Svendsen, I. A., Kirby, J. T. and Smith, J. M., 2003, "A curvilinear version of a quasi-3D nearshore circulation model", Coastal Engineering,49, 99-124.

 

Watts, P., Grilli, S. T., Kirby, J. T., Fryer, G. J. and Tappin, D. R., 2003, "Landslide tsunami case studies using a Boussinesq model and a fully nonlinear tsunami generation model", Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 3, 391-402.

 

Chen, Q., Kirby, J. T., Dalrymple, R. A., Shi, F. and Thornton, E. B., 2003, "Boussinesq modeling of longshore currents", Journal of Geophysical Research, 108(C11), 3362, doi:10.1029/2002JC001308.

 

Day, S. J., Watts, P., Grilli, S. T. and Kirby, J. T., 2005, "Mechanical models of the 1975 Kalapana, Hawaii earthquake and tsunami", Marine Geology, 215, 59-92.

 

Thomas, M., Misra, S., Kambhamettu, C. and Kirby, J. T., 2005, "A robust motion estimation algorithm for PIV", Measurement Science and Technology, 16, 865-877.

 


Shi, F. and Kirby, J. T., 2005, "Curvilinear parabolic approximation for surface wave transformation using covariant-contravariant tensor method", J. Computational Physics, 204, 562-586.

 


Misra, S. K., Thomas, M., Kambhamettu, C., Kirby, J. T., Veron, F. and Brocchini, M., 2006, "Estimation of complex air-water interfaces from PIV images", Experiments in Fluids, 40, doi 10.1007/s00348-006-
0113-1.

 

Terrile, E., Briganti, R., Brocchini, M. and Kirby, J. T., 2006, "Topographically-induced enstrophy production/ dissipation in coastal models", Physics of Fluids, 18(12), 126603.

 

Kaihatu, J. M., Veeramony, J., Edwards, K. L. and Kirby, J. T., 2007, "Asymptotic behavior of frequency and wavenumber spectra of nearshore shoaling and breaking waves", J. Geophys. Res., 112, C06016,
doi:10.1029/2006JC003817.

 

Ioualalen, M., J. A. Asavanant, N. Kaewbanjak, N., Grilli, S. T., Kirby, J. T. and Watts, P., 2007, "Modeling of the 26th December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami: Case study of impact in Thailand", J. Geophys. Res.,112, C07024, doi:10.1029/2006JC003850.

 

Grilli, S. T., Ioualalen, M., Asavanant, J., Shi, F., Kirby, J. T. and Watts, P., 2007, "Source constraints and model simulation of the December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami", J. Waterway, Port, Coast. and Ocean Engrng., 133, 414-428.

 

Shi, F., Kirby, J. T. and Hanes, D. M., 2007, "An efficient mode-splitting method for a curvilinear nearshore circulation mode", Coastal Engineering, 54, 811-824.

 

Long, W., Kirby, J. T. and Shao, Z., 2008,"A numerical scheme for morphological bed level calculations", Coastal Engineering, 55, 167-180.

 

Misra, S., Kirby, J. T., Brocchini, M., Veron, F., Thomas, M. and Kambhamettu, C., 2008, "The mean and turbulent flow structure of a weak hydraulic jump", Phys. Fluids, 20, 035106.

 

Terrile, E., Brocchini, M., Christensen, K. H. and Kirby, J. T., 2008, "Dispersive effects on wave-currentdinteraction and vorticity transport in nearshore flows: a GLM approach", Phys. Fluids. 20, 036602

 
Waythomas, C. F., Watts, P., Shi, F. and Kirby, J. T., 2009, "Pacific basin tsunami hazards associate with mass flows in the Aleutian Arc of Alaska", Quaternary Science Reviews, 28, 1006-1019.

Courses Taught

2009-2010
Fall CIEG672 Water Wave Mechanics
 
2008-2009
Fall CIEG672 Water Wave Mechanics
Spring CIEG682 Nearshore Hydrodynamics
 
2007-2008
Fall CIEG684 Numerical Methods for Coastal Modeling
Fall CIEG672 Water Wave Mechanics
Spring CIEG872 Advanced Water Wave Mechanics
 
2006-2007
Spring CIEG681 Water Wave Spectra


Highlights
Jack Puleo has won the NSF Early Career Development Award
Jack Puleo, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Delaware, has received a prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award to study swash zone sediment transport. The swash zone is the area near the shoreline where waves wash up and down the beach face.

The five-year $444,229 award is aimed at developing a broader understanding of the physics of coastal sediment transport in this area, thereby leading to significant improvement in the ability to predict such coastal phenomena as beach erosion and beach nourishment performance.

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