Lateral Flows and Sediment Dynamics in a Large Engineered Estuary

Estuaries are partially enclosed water bodies where river water mixes with sea water. Estuaries provide important ecological functions which are strongly regulated by estuarine hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics, and also by human interventions. Sustainable management of such systems therefore requires a thorough understanding of the interplay...

The Importance of Combined Tidal and Meteorological Forces for the Flow and Sediment Transport on Intertidal Shoals

Estuarine intertidal areas are shaped by combined astronomical and meteorological forces. This paper reveals the relative importance of tide, surge, wind, and waves for the flow and sediment transport on large intertidal shoals. Results of an intensive field campaign have been used to validate a numerical model of the Roggenplaat intertidal...

How tides and waves enhance aeolian sediment transport at the sand motor mega-nourishment

Expanding knowledge concerning the close entanglement between subtidal and subaerial processes in coastal environments initiated the development of the open-source Windsurf modeling framework that enables us to simulate<br/>multi-fraction sediment transport due to subtidal and subaerial processes simultaneously. The Windsurf framework couples...

Hydrodynamic Drivers of Sediment Transport Across a Fringing Reef

Coral reefs are highly valuable ecosystems, which are under an increasing number of environmental pressures. Sedimentation and sediment transport patterns are among key physical drivers of coral reefs, so it is important to improve our understanding of these poorly studied dynamics on reefs. To this purpose, flume experiments were performed on a...

Sediment transport in a fringing reef environment: Analysis using laboratory experiments and numerical modelling

Coral reefs are highly valuable structures in many respects and it is increasingly important to understand hydrodynamics and morphodynamics around reefs to be able to better protect them and their hinterland. Flume experiments were performed on a scaled fringing reef in the laboratory facilities of Deltares in Delft. The objective of this thesis...

Macrophytes in estuarine gradients: Flow through flexible vegetation

Aquatic plants –or macrophytes- are an important part of coastal, estuarine and freshwater ecosystems worldwide, both from an ecological and an engineering viewpoint. Their meadows provide a wide range of ecosystem services: forming a physical protection of the shoreline, enhancing water quality and harbouring many other organisms. Unfortunately...

The impact of re-surfacing groins on hydrodynamics and sediment transport at the Delfland coast

Objective Due the coastal protection program along the Dutch coast, the groins that first defended the coast against erosion, are now covered under sediment. Due to erosion the covered groins will resurface however. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of the resurfacing groins on the hydrodynamics and sediment transport....