The Shade Curtain Barrier: A conceptual design for a storm surge barrier at the San Luis Pass in Galveston Bay, Texas, United States of America

Low-lying, densely-populated coastal areas across the world are under threat of hurricane-induced floods. This is the case in, among others, the Galveston Bay Area. In response to this threat the USACE (United States Corps of Engineers) recommended a plan to reduce the risk of flooding, through a range of measures to form a resilient coast of...

An exploration of Landscape Identity and Flood Safety, a delta dilemma?: On the reconciliation of the anthropogenic and natural flux in the peat pasture delta landscape through Building with Nature

A sectoral flood safety approach has been the critical condition for Delta Urbanization in the Netherlands until now. But does this have to be the case for future urbanization as well? In the Dutch approach to flood safety, a dilemma appears to exist between (sectoral) flood safety on the one hand and biodiversity and flood resilience on the...

Flood Risk Prediction under Global Vegetated Hydrodynamics: A Bayesian Network

The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events due to global warming and climate change is increasing flood risk. To act, rather than react, nature-based solutions (NBS) involving vegetation and wetlands are being explored on top of conventional solutions like dikes. WHY? There was a dire need for global study quantifying the potential...

Technical and value obstacles faced by Building with Nature flood defence solutions: A case study on technical feasibility in relation to value conflict in Building with Nature flood defence solutions for the Houtribdijk reinforcement project

Building with Nature (BwN) is a relatively novel way of thinking for flood protection. Unlike traditional flood protection solutions that are poised to bring forces of nature to a halt, the BwN’s philosophy is to use natural dynamic processes for engineering advantage as a protection against natural disasters and events. Yet, the BwN design...

Global Flood Hazard Reduction by Foreshore Vegetation

Global flood exposure simulations show that about 600 million people, of which 320 million in urban areas, are at risk to the impacts of global sea-level rise and changing storm intensity and frequency. Increasing availability of data and computational efficiency enables to assess flood hazard on a global scale. Implementation of salt marshes...

Improving Flood Safety and Ferry Navigation in the Changing Environment of Holwerd

Relative sea level rise and climate change represent long-term threats for the ecosystems and flood defence system in the Wadden Sea. Moreover, the flood-dominant tidal basins in the area lead to sedimentation in the navigational channels used by the ferry services that connect the mainland to the Dutch Wadden islands. This report provides flood...

Wave-induced stem breakage in a vegetated foreshore and its implication on probability of flooding

Various flood protection measures are studied across the globe, and nature-friendly and environmentally resilient methods are gaining more attention. As part of the building with nature initiative, the project BE SAFE (Bio-Engineering for SAFEty) studies the effects of a vegetated foreshore as a flood protection measure which is found to be very...

A method to calculate the probability of dike failure due to wave overtopping, including the infragravity waves and morphological changes

In this thesis, a method was developed, with which the infragravity waves and morphological changes of a sandy foreshore are included in the calculation of the probability of dike failure due to wave overtopping. Constructing a natural foreshore in front of the dike can be an attractive and innovative method to decrease the failure probability....