Risk and Reliability: Coastal and Hydraulic Engineering sets out the methods which are increasingly being required by Government Agencies for river and sea defence design and flood defence system management. And it shows how to describe uncertainty in the performance of flood and erosion defences.

It introduces the key statistical concepts required for the implementation of a reliability analysis, and the analytical and the numerical methods are each described with worked examples. Example applications of the methods are given to illustrate their advantages and limitations, together with case studies drawn from the author’s experience of academia and consultancy. It draws together scattered material and provides coastal and hydraulic engineers with an accessible entry to reliability analysis and thence to the cutting-edge literature.

This book suits advanced undergraduates and MSc students of flood and coastal defence. It also serves as a helpful source of information for consultants, practitioners and academics.

Dominic Reeve is a Professor at the University of Plymouth, UK, and author of Coastal Engineering: Processes, Theory and Design Practice, also published by Taylor & Francis.