Wave Transformation Through Mangrove Coasts: A Model Study with XBeach-Surfbeat

Coastal defense mechanisms are an integral part in the safety of infrastructure and communities residing on coastlines around the globe. In long temporal and spatial scales, traditional “hard structures” for coastal defense can become infeasible. Incorporation of soft engineering methods for coastal defense can then be a viable solution....

Predicting Wave-Induced Flooding on Low-Lying Tropical Islands Using a Bayesian Network

Low-lying tropical islands are highly vulnerable to the effects of sea-level rise and climate change. Most pressing is the threat posed to their fresh water supplies by wave-induced flooding. This thesis attempts to generalize previous site-specific studies of flooding on coral atolls and apply it in a framework that can be used for early...

Automated Sediment Volume Development Analysis with Uncertainty Propagation

Coastal regions change continuously due to natural processes. Human activities in coastal regions require a steady environment. Usually the dredging industry is contacted for coastal maintenance. Knowledge about the time development of sediment volume changes in specific regions is necessary for risk assessment in contracting. Nearly a century...

Predicting Coastal Hazards with a Bayesian Network

Recent and historic events have demonstrated the European vulnerability to coastal floods. Larger and more extreme events in Asia and the Americas have shown the devastating effects that these low-frequency high-impact floods can have. This thesis contributes to the development of an Early Warning System (EWS) for marine coastal hazards. The...

Impact Modelling of Hurricane Sandy on the Rockaways: Relating high-resolution storm characteristics to observed impact with use of Bayesian Belief Networks

Hurricane Sandy (2012), which made landfall in New Jersey on October 29th, made devastating impact on the East Coast of the USA and struck major parts of New York City, including the economic centre of Manhattan. The total damage (in the USA and Caribbean) is in excess of 100 billion US$ with estimates ranging between 78 and 97 billion US$ for...

Developing a parametric model for storms to determine the extreme surge level at the Dutch coast

To date no study has been done to analyse the effect on water level for the Dutch coast from the passage of storms over the North Sea. This research examines the feasibility of developing a joint probability method to determine the extreme water level for the Dutch coast, resulting from these storms. This has been done by means of a parametric...

Impact Assessment of Extreme Storm Events Using a Bayesian Network

The most densely populated and economical most valuable areas in The Netherlands lie below mean sea level. These areas are protected against the sea by a coastal dune system. The vital importance of this dune system is reflected in the extensive collection of Dutch legal regulations that ensure the safety level of the dunes. Current safety...

Dredge Plumes: Ecological risk assessment

Nowadays, the ecological effects of dredge plumes are usually managed based on the precautionary principle. Predictions of suspended sediment levels are made, which have to be compared to thresholds set by the responsible authority. Failing to comply may cause a project to be delayed and thus lead to additional costs. The precautionary principle...

Probabilistic modelling of extreme beach erosion using XBeach

The long series (>30 year) of measurement data of erosion events at Narrabeen beach (NWS, Australia) provides insight in erosion volumes and their return periods in this area. The aim of this study was to replicate these data using XBeach in order to assess the validity of both the Joint Probability Model (JPM) and XBeach on beaches such as...

Probabilistic design of settling basins for environmental compliance: Development and evaluation of a risk-based approach

The environmental impacts caused by suspended sediments are an important issue in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of dredging and reclamation projects. This thesis is restricted to provide insight into the emission of suspended sediment particles due to the release of return water. This water is used to pump dredged material to the...

The influence of armour layer and core permeability on the wave run-up

In JUMELET [2010] a method with a physical basis (so called “Volume Exchange model”) to determine the ‘notional’ permeability coefficient P was developed. The ‘notional’ permeability coefficient was previously introduced in the stability formula of the armour layer; see VAN DER MEER [1988]. In this latter study this coefficient was empirically...

Dune erosion along curved coastlines

The most densely populated and economical most valuable areas in The Netherlands lie below mean sea level. These areas are protected against the sea by a joint coastal dune system. The vital importance of this dune system is reflected in the extensive collection of Dutch legal regulations that ensure the safety level of the dunes. The assessment...