Cost optimal river dike design using probabilistic methods

This research focuses on the optimization of river dikes using probabilistic methods. Its aim is to develop a generic method that automatically estimates the failure probabilities of many river dike cross-sections and gives the one with the least cost, taking into account the boundary conditions and the requirements that are set by the user....

The Weakest Link: Spatial Variability in the Piping Failure Mechanism of Dikes

Piping is an important failure mechanism of flood defense structures. A dike fails due to piping when a head difference causes first the uplift of an inland blanket layer, and subsequently soil erosion due to a ground water flow. Spatial variability of subsoil parameters causes the probability of piping failure to increase, often to unacceptable...

Dune development and aeolian transport along the Holland coast

Stand van zaken rond waterveiligheid in Nederland

Vorig jaar kwamen de resultaten van de derde landelijke toetsing van de veiligheid van de primaire waterkeringen beschikbaar. Ongeveer eenderde van de meer dan 3.700 km dijken en duinen voldoet niet aan de normen. Er bestaat dus een aanzienlijke opgave om de keringen te laten voldoen aan de huidige normen. Deze krijgt vorm in het (nieuwe)...

Probabilistic design of breakwaters in shallow hurricane-prone areas

One of the failure mechanisms of a rubble mound breakwater is the failure of its armour layer. In order to determine the stability of an armour layer, the design load has to be defined, which is in fact the wave that attacks the structure. Being a highly stochastic phenomenon, the wave action is not easily defined, while there is always some...

A decision-support model for time-dependent investments in flood defences

This poster presents the framework of a decision support model for time-dependent investments in structural flood risk mitigation measures.

Rationalization of safety factors for breakwater design in hurricane-prone areas

This paper presents the development of a semi-probabilistic method for armour layer design of rubble mound breakwaters, which is based on the use of safety factors. The objective is to introduce an approach that is both attractive to designers and sufficiently reliable when a high degree of uncertainty is involved in the design process. The main...

Safety standards of flood defenses

Current design codes like the Eurocode use safety or reliability classes to assign target reliabilities to different types of structures or structural members according to the potential consequences of failure. That, in essence, is a risk-based criterion. A wide range of structures is designed with such codes, and distinction is made between...

Coastal defence cost estimates: Case study of the Netherlands, New Orleans and Vietnam

This study is part of a global study on the costs of adaptation to the effects of climate change. It adds information from three specific case studies (the Netherland, New Orleans and Vietnam) to the global study. The case study areas are comparable by type of coast; all are low-lying deltaic coastal areas. This study investigates the unit cost...

Updating piping probabilities with survived historical loads

Piping, also called under-seepage, is an internal erosion mechanism, which can cause the failure of dikes or other flood defence structures. The uncertainty in the resistance of a flood defence against piping is usually large, causing high probabilities of failure for this mechanism. A considerable part of this uncertainty is of epistemic nature...