Project offer to young professionals

In the Netherlands the dikes are monitored continuously to prevent the hinterland from flooding. When the situation becomes critical (because of high water levels or storms) this becomes even more intense and every possible failure needs to be reported. If a dike, in this situation, is endangered, immediate actions need to be taken. Due to climate change this is expected in the riverine area, the IJsselmeer area and in the South-Western delta. Within a few hours (temporary) emergency measures are taken to prevent the dike from breaching, which would result in flooding of the hinterland. These measures are for example inflatable tubes, boxbarriers or the regular sandbags that are placed on top of the dike. The sandbags have proven to be a good strategy. The other measures are newly introduced and more or less only used in a test situation. The fact that they are only used in test situations gives some doubts about the reliability. Questions that can be asked are:

• What will happen if we do not only have high water levels, but also severe wave attack?
• Too which extend will the measures stay stable or start to float at some point?
• What regulations are available for these emergency measures?
• What is the influence of the water level and wave run-up on the stability of these measures?
• How well is the practical application of the different measures during storm situations?

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Figure 1: Boxbarrier and Mobile Dike.

During this minor you will first investigate the measures that are available, by doing some literature research. These possibilities you will model in the flume, using  different scale models. After this you will give an advise on the different measures in different situations, for example in a storm situation with waves, which measure is best applicable. For this minor we are looking for at least 2 students that are interested in the field of Coastal Engineering and want to do some experiments in the flume. 

Goal of the project

Give an advice to the client on the different measures in different situations.

Stakeholders

Lector Building with Nature, Rijkswaterstaat, Hoogwaterbeschermingsprogramma.

Activities and end result

During this minor you will first investigate the measures that are available, by doing some literature research. These possibilities you will model in the flume, using different scale models. After this you will give an advice to the client on the different measures in different situations, for example in a storm situation with waves, which measure is best applicable.

Education programs allowed

Not specified, interested in Building with Nature and Coastal Engineering.

Supervision

Weekly meetings with coach and with the client (Rijkswaterstaat).

Competences and learning goals

Testing hypothesis’ in the flume in a valid and reliable way, analysing the results to give an advice to the client. Applying this result to a real life situation.

Knowledge and expertise required

Interest and knowledge in Building with Nature and Coastal Engineering.

Start and amount of work (ECTs) of the project

September 2018, 30 ECTs.

Amount of students

2-3

Contact

Ms Samantha van Schaick (HZ, Delta Academy, Civil Engineering, samantha.v.schaick@hz.nl)