City Conducts Physical Wave Modeling at Lab for RE:BEACH Oceanside Pilot Project

The City of Oceanside is continuing its RE:BEACH Pilot Project, a forward-looking initiative to strengthen coastal resilience while protecting public access, surfing resources, and beach sand along the City's shoreline. Emerging from an international design competition, the RE:BEACH Oceanside Project consists of an artificial reef, two artificial headlands and sand nourishment. Central to this effort is a robust scientific approach using state-of-the-art wave and sediment modeling to ensure the project meets its goals effectively.

In January 2026, the project team began working on constructing a physical model of the proposed project, to be tested in a directional wave basin at the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Laboratory at Oregon State University (photo, right). The directional wave basin is the only large-scale wave basin on the west coast that can support full-scale experimental modeling of coastal processes and wave-structure interactions under highly- controlled conditions. The physical model is a 1:35 scaled version of the Oceanside coastline, from Seagaze Drive to Wisconsin Avenue, with the proposed project elements placed within the modeled coastline. To perform the modeling, the project features are built to model scale in the 160 foot by 87 foot wave basin, and then tested against various oceanographic conditions (e.g., tides and waves) to see how the design performs.

Physical Modeling Timeline (2026)

• December 2025 - January 2026: Fabrication and bathymetry construction
• February - March 2026: Instrument setup, baseline evaluation, reef and headland installation, and sequential testing of multiple reef modifications, including sediment movement
• Late March 2026: Completion of testing and evaluation

Over the past year, the RE:BEACH Oceanside reef design has evolved from a high-level concept to a refined, data-driven design. Prior to physical modeling, the project team conducted detailed numerical modeling, testing more than 45 reef configurations in over 900 simulations of coastal conditions. These analyses evaluated how different reef geometries, crest heights, and orientations interacted with waves coming from various directions to optimize sand retention and reduce downdrift impacts. Numerical modeling informed the design dimensions being tested in the physical modeling phase.

In the physical model, detailed measurements are now being collected in and around the reef and headland features that calibrate early numerical modeling and evaluate wave dynamics, current patterns and circulation, and sediment transport over and around the reef. A final design of the artificial reef will be the result of the physical modeling phase of the project, with the objective being a reef and headlands that encourage deposition and retention of sand on the shoreline.

(Figure at left): Layout of the RE:BEACH Oceanside bathymetry, reef, and headlands scaled in the Directional Wave Basin at OSU.

The RE:BEACH Pilot Project represents the City's commitment to using leading-edge science and stakeholder engagement to protect and enhance Oceanside's iconic coastline. As the project moves through further modeling, refinements will continue to optimize reef performance before final design and implementation.

For more information on the RE:BEACH Pilot Project, please visit https://www.rebeach.org