Preliminary Assessment of the Behaviour of Temporary Flood Barriers in Floods
K.W. Chan (TU Delft - Civil Engineering & Geosciences)
Davide Wüthrich – Mentor (TU Delft - Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk)
Roelof Moll – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk)
M. M. Rutten – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Water Resources)
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Abstract
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 May 2023 to test the functionality of the temporary flood barriers in different spatial conditions.
This report aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the temporary flood barriers and their performance in spatial variability before the experiment. To achieve this, available information on various barriers has been summarised to make a valid argument for the comparison of different barriers.
The first part of this report provides an overview of worldwide available barriers with their corresponding physical concepts explained, while more detailed information is given on those tested in Flood Proof Holland. The report then presents a theoretical hypothesis based on the calculation of the resisting force of the barriers. The findings reveal that most of the tested barriers can withstand a water level of 50 cm on asphalt, concrete, sand, and grass. However, BoxBarrier and BoxWall(Waterschot) show exceptions when subpressure is taken into account.
The report also includes a comprehensive outline of a physical experiment that will be conducted in May 2023, which provides a detailed description of the experiment, as well as preliminary assessment criteria. These criteria include logistics, failure mechanisms, spatial conditions, and additional requirements from the water board, and will be used to assess the performance of the temporary flood barriers. Additionally, an ideal monitoring plan utilising video camera, tracer fluid, and RBR-Diver has been proposed for the experiment.
Lastly, the report features a discussion of a preliminary test conducted on February 15th 2023 in Flood Proof Holland, to evaluate the effectiveness of the designed monitoring approach. The test proved that the proposed monitoring plan was successful and emphasised the significance of proper equipment inspection, anchoring, and quality control of materials for the temporary flood barriers.