Tom Baldock

Professor Tom Baldock, B.Eng, Ph.D (Lond), DIC, MIEAust.

****Ph.D. Scholarships in Coastal and Marine Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, Australia****

Please enquire about forthcoming UQ scholarship opportunities for domestic Australian students (citizens or permanent residents) or international students who are currently in Australia.

Ph.D. projects are available on coastal processes, coral reef hydrodynamics, tsunami impacts, wave energy or a topic of your own

Professor Baldock’s research is primarily in the field of Coastal and Ocean Engineering, but also encompasses renewable energy and higher education. He has published over 120 journal papers and over 80 conference papers, notably in top-rated journals for his discipline (Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society), and is the most published author in the journal Coastal Engineering over the past decade. He is presently principal supervisor for 6 Ph.D. students, with 18 PhD students graduated since 2007, three of whom were awarded Dean’s awards, and nine have secured T&R or research positions nationally and internationally, one a full Professor. His Ph.D. students have published over 60 journal papers since 2004. They have worked on field and laboratory experiments in the UK, Europe, the USA, in association with international researchers and government agencies. Prof Baldock received a UQ Award for “Excellence in HDR Supervision” in 2017. He is currently working on a major project within the National Reef Restoration and Adaption Program (https://gbrrestoration.org/) focused on the Great Barier Reef.

He has strong national and international collaboration on research on topical issues in coastal engineering and close links with Government and National agencies, which includes consultancy and expert witness services in Marine Engineering. Recent and current relevant research projects include a multi-partner CSIRO Cluster project under the Wealth from Oceans Flagship, investigating tsunami impact on ultra-long submarine pipelines running from the deep ocean up to continental slope and then onshore, ARC Discovery, ARC Linkage and ARC LIEF projects investigating storm surge and wave run-up along the East Australian coast, and four European Union HYDRALAB IV transnational access projects to study beach erosion and recovery processes in large wave flume facilities. He is also working with Geoscience Australia on the Bushfire and Natural Hazards projects, Resilience of Coasts to Clustered storm events and with the Global Change Institute (UQ) on the World Bank project "Capturing Coral Reef Ecosystems Services".

He is a member of the Editorial Board for Coastal Engineering and a member of the Engineers Australia National Committee on Coastal and Ocean Engineering.

He was Chair of the Organising Committee for Coasts and Ports 2017, held in Cairns, June 2017

His primary research interests are in : Swash zone hydrodynamics, Beach face sediment transport, Coral reef hydrodynamics and associated shoreline behaviour, Long wave generation and surf beat, Extreme non-linear waves (freak waves), Storm surge and tsunami hazards.

His current research projects are in the fields of:

1. Swash Zone hydrodynamics and Sediment Transport
2. Wave overtopping, including tsunami overtopping
3. Coral reef hydrodynamics
4. Impact of sea level rise on coastlines on open and reef-fronted coasts
5. Surf zone processes and beach erosion
6. Infrastructure for offshore aquaculture
7. Wave energy conversion

Google Scholar : https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?hl=en&user=QU14lwEAAAAJ

Top publications

Baldock, T.E., Swan, C. and Taylor, P.H., 1996. A laboratory study of non-linear surface waves on water. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, Series A. 354, 1-28. [ERA – A]

Baldock, T. E and Huntley, D. A., 2002. Long wave forcing by the breaking of random gravity waves on a beach. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Series A. 458, 2177-2201. [ERA – A*]

Baldock, T.E., 2006. Long wave generation by the shoaling and breaking of transient wave groups on a beach, Proceedings of the Royal Society, London., Series A. 462, 1853–1876. [ERA – A*]

Baldock, T. E., O’ Hare, T. J., and Huntley, D. A.., 2004. Long wave forcing on a barred beach. J. Fluid Mechanics, 503, 321-341. [ERA – A*]

Pritchard, D., Guard, P.A. and Baldock, T.E., 2008. An analytical model for bore-driven run-up. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 610: 183-193. [ERA – A*]

Baldock, T.E., Peiris, D. and Hogg, A.J., 2012. Overtopping of solitary waves and solitary bores on a plane beach. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Series A., doi: 10.1098/rspa.2011.0729. [ERA –A*]

Saunders, M.I. et al., 2014. Interdependency of tropical marine ecosystems in response to climate change. Nature Clim. Change, 4(8): 724-729. [ERA – A*]

Latest publications:

1. Lancaster, O., Cossu, R., Wilson, M., & Baldock, T. E. (2022). A 3D numerical and experimental parametric study of wave-induced scour around large bluff body structures. Ocean Engineering, 112766. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2022.112766
2. Astorga-Moar, A., & Baldock, T. E. (2022). Assessment and optimisation of runup formulae for beaches fronted by fringing reefs based on physical experiments. Coastal Engineering, 176, 104163. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2022.104163
3. Thompson, M. E., Matson, B. J., & Baldock, T. E. (2022). A globally verified coastal glare estimation tool. Coastal Engineering, 177, 104190.
4. Shabani, B., Ware, P. & Baldock, T. E. 2022. Suppression of Wind Waves in the Presence of Swell: A Physical Modeling Study. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127, e2021JC018306.
5. Lancaster, O., Cossu, R., Wuppukondur, A., Astorga Moar, A., Hunter, S., & Baldock, T. E. (2022). Experimental measurements of wave-induced scour around a scaled gravity-based Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter. Applied Ocean Research, 126, 103268. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apor.2022.103268
6. Wuppukondur, A. and Baldock, T.E., 2022. Physical and numerical modelling of representative tsunami waves propagating and overtopping in converging channels. Coastal Engineering, p.104120.
7. Wiegerink, J. J., Baldock, T. E., Callaghan, D. P. & Wang, C. M. 2022. Slosh Suppression Blocks - A concept for mitigating fluid motions in floating closed containment fish pen in high energy environments. Applied Ocean Research, 120, 103068.
8. Lancaster, O., Cossu, R., Heatherington, C., Hunter, S. & Baldock, T. E. 2022. Field Observations of Scour Behavior around an Oscillating Water Column Wave Energy Converter. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 10, 320.
9. Blenkinsopp, C. E., Baldock, T. E., Bayle, P. M., Foss, O., Almeida, L. P. & Schimmels, S. 2022. Remote Sensing of Wave Overtopping on Dynamic Coastal Structures. Remote Sensing, 14, 513.
10. Ibrahim, M. S. I. & Baldock, T. E. 2021. Physical and Numerical Modeling of Wave-by-Wave Overtopping along a Truncated Plane Beach. Journal of Waterway, Port, Coastal, and Ocean Engineering, 147, 04021025.
11. Thompson, M., Zelich, I., Watterson, E. & Baldock, T. E. 2021. Wave Peel Tracking: A New Approach for Assessing Surf Amenity and Analysis of Breaking Waves. Remote Sensing, 13, 3372.
12. Birrien, F. & Baldock, T. 2021. A Coupled Hydrodynamic-Equilibrium Type Beach Profile Evolution Model. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 9, 353.
13. Lancaster, O., Cossu, R., Boulay, S., Hunter, S. & Baldock, T. E. 2021. Comparative Wave Measurements at a Wave Energy Site with a Recently Developed Low-Cost Wave Buoy (Spotter), ADCP, and Pressure Loggers. Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 38, 1019-1033
14. Baldock, T.E., Gravois, U., Callaghan, D.P., Davies, G. and Nichol, S., 2021. Methodology for Estimating return intervals for storm demand and dune recession by clustered and non-clustered morphological events. Coastal Engineering, p.103924.
15. Bayle, P.M., Beuzen, T., Blenkinsopp, C.E., Baldock, T.E. and Turner, I.L., 2021. A new approach for scaling beach profile evolution and sediment transport rates in distorted laboratory models. Coastal Engineering, 163, p.103794.
16. Blenkinsopp, C.E., Bayle, P.M., Conley, D.C., Masselink, G., Gulson, E., Kelly, I., Almar, R., Turner, I.L., Baldock, T.E., Beuzen, T. and McCall, R.T., 2021. High-resolution, large-scale laboratory measurements of a sandy beach and dynamic cobble berm revetment. Scientific data, 8(1), pp.1-11.