Mathematical modelling of morphological changes and hyperconcentrated floods in the Yellow River

Hyperconcentrated flow/flood is a water-driven sediment transport phenomenon, which is characterized by high sediment concentrations between normal sediment-laden flow and debris/mud flow. In a hyperconcentrated flow, strong interactions exist between water flow, sediment, and river bed, which may not only change the flow rheological properties,...

Modelling and parameterizing the hydro- and morphodynamics of curved open channels

Meandering rivers are interesting features of the landscape due to their aesthetically pleasing forms. There is an abundance of scientific studies on meandering rivers, however, their behaviour is still not fully understood. The complexity of the flow, bed morphodynamics and bank stability, the related uncertainties in water and sediment motion,...

Computational modelling of small-scale river morphodynamics

Alluvial open channel beds often exhibit statistically periodic irregularities, known as dunes. Dunes have considerable effects on sediment transport and flow resistance. When growing during a flood, the dunes create more resistance and flood levels may rise significantly. Accurate prediction of dune properties therefore contributes to effective...

Sand-mud erosion from a soil mechanical perspective

‘Wetlands’ in tidal lagoons and estuaries are among the most valuable ecosystems in the world. Managing these systems requires both a thorough knowledge and validated tools to predict their behavior and development. An important morpho-dynamic process herein is the erosion (‘pick-up’) of the bed, which are in inter-tidal areas often composed of...

Estuarine Ecosystem Engineering: Biogeomorphology in the estuarine intertidal

The aim of this thesis was to investigate how (macro)benthic organisms interact with the ecological functioning, erodibility and small- to medium-scale morphodynamics of estuarine intertidal sediment by modulating its composition and/or properties. In these interactions, scale is of great importance for the ecosystem engineers. The changes they...

Analysis and modelling of river meandering

This thesis examines the morphological changes of non-tidal meandering rivers at the spatial scale of several meanders. With this purpose, a physics-based mathematical model, MIANDRAS, has been developed for the simulation of the medium-term to long-term evolution of meandering rivers. Application to several real rivers shows that MIANDRAS can...

Stochastic modelling of river morphodynamics

Modern river management has to reconcile a number of functions, such as protection against floods and provision of safe and efficient navigation, floodplain agriculture, ecology and recreation. Knowledge on uncertainty in fluvial processes is important to make this possible, to design effective river engineering works, for operational...

Morphodynamics of Rivers with Groynes, Morfodynamica van Rivieren met Kribben

Modelling Floodplain Biogeomorphology

Understanding the interactions between the ecosystem and the morphology of river floodplains, i.e. floodplain biogeomorphology, is becoming increasingly important in view of modern river management and climate change. There is a need for predictive models for the natural response of river floodplains to hydraulic measures and river...

Morphodynamic modelling of estuarine channel-shoal systems

In this research, the initial formation and long-term evolution of channel-shoal patterns in schematised basins is simulated using a model based on the software package Delft3D. The resulting channel-shoal patterns are validated with field observations, among which the Western Scheldt estuary. This has proven that a complex model is able to...

Uncertainty Analysis applied to Numerical Models of River Bed Morphology

Sand-mud segregation in estuaries and tidal basins