The Energy Polder: Feasibility Study on a Tidal Power Plant along the Western Scheldt

In the Netherlands 6,8% of the total electricity production came from renewable energy sources. Electricity was 17 % of the total energy consumption in that year. In total 1,2% of the energy consumption was therefore renewable. The objective of the cabinet to get 20% of the energy from renewable energy sources will therefore be a major challenge...

Water jets surrounded by an air film (Experimental research on the influence of air addition around water jets)

The effect of introducing an air film around a submerged water jet is examined in laboratory experiments. The objective is to reduce the friction forces between the water jet and the ambient fluid, making a jet potentially more effective at a larger distance. The test are conducted at a physical scale comparable to dredging practise, contrary to...

Modelling the Giant Sandwaves of San Francisco Bay: A study on process based sandwave modelling, with an exploration on the mechanisms that results in the formation of these bedforms

Connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Golden Gate channel, the San Francisco Bay accommodates a widely spread field of sandwaves that show large spatial variations which are not yet fully understood. Insight into the formation of sandwaves is necessary to understand and predict the processes that control sand transport and sedimentation patterns...

Observation and modelling of hydrodynamics and residence times in Bilbao Harbour (Northern Spain)

This report contains the work of Stella Spyropoulou for the final MSc thesis for the Coastal and Marine Engineering and Management Erasmus Mundus Postgraduate diploma, with the help and supervision of the UPC (Universitat Polytechnica de Catalunya) staff Marc Mestres and Manel Grifoll. An effort is made in this thesis to identify dominating and...

Improving surfing conditions with floating wave filters

The sport of surfing has increased tremendously in popularity in the last decade and surf breaks around the world are progressively getting overcrowded with surfers. This overcrowding is an annoyance to surfers themselves since surfing is an individualistic sport, one wave for one surfer. This coastal problem has been addressed by science...

Wave physics in the Agulhas Current using near-exact computations of wave-wave interactions

Strong ocean currents such as the Agulhas Current near South-Africa are alleged to generate freak waves due to the enhancement of wave energy under counter-current conditions. It has been suggested that such enhancement is due to current-induced refraction but it is actually the result of a balance between many processes. To understand this...

Sediment transport through the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier

The aim of this research is to determine to what extend the scour holes limit the sediment transport through the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier and whether or not human adaptations, like sand-nourishments in the scour holes, can have a positive effect on the sediment import. To investigate these scenarios a numerical model (Delft3D) is used...

Wave-Driven Longshore Currents in the Surf Zone

Recent study has shown that 3D computations of the morphological development of a coast shows irregularities compared with the 2DH (depth-averaged) computations. Therefore a validation of the surf zone currents computed using the 2DH (depth-averaged) and 3D approach in Delft3D is made. The 2DH and 3D approach are compared using an idealized case...

WAD een beweging; Onderzoek naar de morfologische veranderingen in het Friesche Zeegat en de gevolgen voor de bevaarbaarheid van de vaarroute naar Schiermonnikoog

Een onderzoek naar de morfologische veranderingen in het Friesche Zeegat. Na de afsluiting van de Lauwerszee is het bekken continu in verandering. Dit heeft gevolgen voor de bevaarbaarheid van de vaarroute naar Schiermonnikoog. In dit onderzoek wordt een voorspelling gedaan naar de ontwikkelingen voor het komend decennium en de gevolgen van deze...

Dune growth on natural and nourished beaches

Dune evolution on natural and nourished beaches on an engineering timescale is not well understood. Using a study of both literature, and data which has been gathered of the Dutch coast, a new hypothesis regarding the causes of variability in dune evolution is proposed. Following this hypothesis assumptions are made on the basis of which a...

Under water unloading process of saturated sand through a small discharge opening - without the use of water jets

Royal Boskalis Westminster nv is an international group with a leading position in the world market for dredging services. In most practical cases a jet installation or a big discharge aperture is used for the fast unloading of a load of sand. When a relative small discharge opening, without the use of a jet installation, is used to unload a...

Stability of wide-graded rubble mounds

The reshaping of temporary rubble mounds like the core of breakwaters or reclamation bunds is often a concern for contractorsi n the construction stages of marine structures. The formulas found in literature for the prediction of such behavior are few, and they do not provide clear insight on the influence of relevant parameters, in particular...

New Orleans storm surge barrier: An understanding of the hydraulic processes in front of and inside the superstructure

After New Orleans was struck by hurricane Katrina on the 29th of August a consortium including Iv-Infra was in a tender, which involved the design of a storm surge barrier at the east side of the city of New Orleans. This consortium designed a piled-supported structure including a concrete superstructure. The superstructure consists of a...