Stability of a Tidal Marsh Under Very High Flow Velocities and Implications for Nature-Based Flood Defense

Nature-based strategies, such as wave attenuation by tidal marshes, are increasingly proposed as a complement to mitigate the risks of failure of engineered flood defense structures such as levees. However, recent analysis of historic coastal storms revealed smaller dike breach dimensions if there were natural, high tidal marshes in front of...

Modelling dike breach formation: Defining the residual strength of dikes during overflow

Dikes constructed of a sand core, clay cover and natural vegetation as (landside) slope protection are common flood defence structures in the Netherlands. The design parameters, such as the crest height of dikes, are determined through risk assessment to reduce the remaining probability of a failure mechanism, such as overflow. Little is known...

Evaluation of Empirical Methods for Estimating Breaching Parameters of Dikes

Dike breaching parameters are important to support dike flood risk management, and can be estimated rapidly using empirical models. Due to the lack of dike specific models, sometimes models for man-made dams were used without validation. This paper compares relevant factors of dike, man-made dam and landslide dam breaches. With the aid of two...

Load interdependencies of flood defences

In the Netherlands flood risks are often assessed by using a dike ring approach. This approach has, aside from many advantages, also some disadvantages. The main disadvantage is that, when zooming in on a small area, the effect of the system on that small area and vice versa, is or cannot be accounted for properly. Research has shown that for a...