Venice and the Lagoon: Two new visions

What long ago started as a small fishing village, seeking refuge from the Romans, slowly evolved into the city of Venice that we know today. With its unique location came unique problems, most of which were related to the interplay between Venice and its lagoon. By severe measures in the past it has continued to withstand the test of time. <br/...

Assessing and redesigning Valkenburg’s flood risk management system: A multidisciplinary project

The geographical features in the Southern part of Limburg forces precipitation from upstream located areas to flow through a bottleneck, which is exactly located at the city centre of Valkenburg. This makes increasing the safety level more complicated than in other areas. The safety level of Valkenburg has a lower standard in comparison to the...

Using CFD to design riprap bed protections downstream of underflow weirs: Weir design of the future

Weirs are constructed inside rivers to manage the water level. On the one hand they need to be designed sufficiently strong to prevent failure or destruction, while on the other hand they need to be economically feasible. If a structure is designed too strong, unnecessary costs are made and the structure becomes too expensive.<br/><br/>One of...

Effect of bed roughness on the hydrodynamic properties of dam-break waves

A dam-break wave can result in considerable damages and casualties. Events that can lead to such waves include dike and dam breaches, storm surges and impulse waves. Dutch history is familiar with a number of coastal dike breaches but also river dike breaches have occurred, resulting in dam-break waves reaching far inland. Beyond the Netherlands...

Numerical simulation of the impact of unsteady flows around impervious buildings

In the last few years, the climate crisis has been accelerating at a dizzying pace and poses an emergency threat to our planet. Rainfalls have transformed into intense downpours, and flash flooding, combined with the sea level rise, leads to a higher risk of inundation of densely populated coastal cities. Moreover, the melting of the permafrost...

Hydraulic behaviour of the Geul inverted siphon: Energy losses, debris accumulation and applicability of a Minimum Energy Loss culvert

In the area of Bunde in the south of Limburg, the Netherlands, the Geul river flows beneath the Juliana Canal through an inverted siphon before reaching the Meuse. During July 2021 a large scale flood event occurred, showing an insufficient capacity of the inverted siphon when both the Geul and Meuse had high water levels.<br/><br/>Such...

An Interdisciplinary Study on the Parana Delta of Argentina

With combined efforts from water management, architectural and hydraulic engineering students, an interdisciplinary and resilient design is set up for the Paraná Delta. The design relates to all the current environmental, architectural and flood risk challenges - among others, as well as the potential issues in the future since the Paraná Delta...

Design of a flood bypass tunnel for Valkenburg aan de Geul: Operation and hydraulic design to reduce the risk of flooding

Between July 12 and 15, 2021, extreme rainfall in Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands caused severe flooding. The total damage in the Netherlands is estimated to be between € 350 and € 600 million, with Valkenburg aan de Geul suffering the most damage. The economic and tourist heart of this city is located in the lowest part of the...

Preliminary Assessment of the Behaviour of Temporary Flood Barriers in Floods

Due to an extraordinary precipitation event in July 2021, the Dutch government want to utilise the temporary flood barriers to reduce the impact caused by a flash flood event in the future. As a result, Water Board Limburg, Flood Proof Holland and Delft University of Technology made an agreement to conduct a physical experiment in Roermond on...

3D River Discharge Modelling using UAV photogrammetry

Water is essential for life on earth and is vital for numerous sectors of our society. Pressures arising from climate change, growing populations, and the shift towards clean energy accentuate the importance of effective water management. To make decisions about water resource allocation, hydraulic modeling studies have been undertaken on large...

Efficacy of Nature-Based versus Man-Made Tsunami Wave Run-up Mitigation Strategies

Following significant physical and economic damage associated with large tsunami disasters, this research assessed the efficacy of both nature-based and man-made tsunami mitigation measures. With an expected increase of the population living in tsunami-prone areas, it is critical to develop a better understanding of tsunami engineering. <br/><br...

The maximum influence of wind on wave overtopping at mildly sloping dikes with a crest element

Due to the rising sea level in combination with land subsidence there is a need to reinforce the dikes. The use of a crest element to increase the height of the dike is an effective and relatively cheap way to reinforce the dikes (Hogeveen, 2021). When a crest element is used, the jet generated by wave breaking on the dike slope impacts on the...

Disaster resilient Galveston: A multidisciplinary project on the design of sustainable measures to counteract coastal and pluvial flooding issues in Galveston

The report tackles Galveston's flooding challenges, which are currently in development with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) ring barrier. However, the current design, predominantly addressing coastal flooding, falls short in dealing with pluvial flooding, relying heavily on pumps. This top-down approach neglects environmental and...

Effects of driftwood on backwater rise at submerged culverts

Accumulations of floating debris at culverts and inverted siphons cause partial blockage of the hydraulic structure’s inlet, leading to an increase in head loss that is also referred to as backwater rise. This effect is of high importance in flood management, because backwater rise associated with floating debris accumulations can cause or...

Mitigation of Hydropeaking in a Complex Riverine System: A State-of-the-Art Modelling Approach: A quantitative study with HEC-RAS modelling on hydropeaking by means of a case study in the Kalajoki basin (northern Finland)

Hydropeaking is a widely applied management practice in the generation of hydropower. When the demand in electricity is high, the operator of a hydropower plant rapidly increases released discharges to meet this demand. Vice versa, when the demand is low, no or less water is released. However, while river regulation practices offer valuable...