Risk-based maintenance and inspection of riverine flood defence systems

The condition of flood defence revetments is influenced by many different degradation processes such as animal burrowing, rutting and growth of weeds. Many of these processes are shock-based rather than progressive continuous. As shocks can cause a drop in performance, this means that the condition of a revetment can suddenly decrease,...

Adaptive design of flood defence systems: Incorporating adaptive design methods to cope with sea level rise uncertainty in a system-to-structure approach in the Rhine-Meuse estuary

Climate change is increasingly becoming more impactful on our society. Recent events such as the extreme rainfall in the summer of 2021 in Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands and hurricane Ida in Mississippi (USA), caused severe floodings and damages in these areas. Climate change, in turn, leads to an increase in sea level rise, making flood...

Cost-effective levee design for cases along the Meuse river including uncertainties in hydraulic loads

After the flood of 1993 and 1995 in the Netherlands, flood risks in Limburg became an important discussion. Each flood defence system along the river Meuse needs to be provided with a safety level with an annual failure probability of 1/250. In the nearby future a new safety philosophy will be introduced, entailing new safety norms and...

Vulnerability of structural transitions in flood defences: Erosion of grass covers due to wave overtopping

Hardly any flood defence system is a continuous dike system, since it is often interrupted by non-water retaining structures, as for example stairs, buildings, roads, fences and trees. Also larger hydraulic structures as floodgates and sluices are sometimes situated in the dike alignment. The transition between these different objects and the...