R
&
D
HIGHLIGHTS
CONTENTS
3 INTRODUCTION
4 ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES
6 Deformation-based assessment of dike safety
7 Multi-resolution global modelling of surface currents
8 Nitrate app
9 Switch-on: open data project successfully closed
10 DELTA INFRASTRUCTURE
12 Erosion on the Korean east coast: from understanding to practice
13 Scour protection handbook
14 Rapid fall in the cost of offshore wind energy
15 Green port policy in tanzania
16 Bubble screens
17 Interaction of a filling jet and a vessel in a lock
18 Building resilience to extreme weather and climate change into critical infrastructures
19 Unravelling the secret of liquefaction in loose sands by freezing
20 Measuring tsunami forces to design safe cooling systems for power plants
21 Anura3D MPM for large-deformation geotechnical and hydraulic engineering
22 WATER AND SUBSOIL RESOURCES
24 Drought event simulation and drought risk analysis
25 Participatory and collaborative modelling: key to sustainable and inclusive development
26 Autonomous measuring platforms
27 Treasure hunt for fresh groundwater
28 Stratigraphic modelling with the delft3D geotool
29 Groundwater in multi-stressed aquatic ecosystems
30 New IWRM framework helps the philippines to operationalise sustainable development goal 6.5
32 ADAPTIVE DELTA PLANNING
34 Enhancing knowledge transfer and uptake
35 Detecting trends in climate change
36 Erosion of sandy beaches worldwide
37 Increasing the resilience of maritime transport in Tuvalu
38 Visual communication in science and landscape design
39 Cascading effects of infra structure disruption and identification of vulnerable groups
40 The Dutch Delta Approach
42 ECOSYSTEMS AND
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
44 Iron-bearing groundwater makes phosphate less harmful
45 The iFlow model: a simplified model for the study of complex estuarine sediment transport
46 Energy production with floating solar farms
47 Ecological modelling for the environmental impact assessment of sand extraction in the north sea
48 Salt intrusion and temperature dynamics in San Francisco Bay
49 The interplay between rivers and riparian vegetation
50 Tubifex worms improve densification rates and the strengthening of soft sediments and mine tailings
51 Ecosystem-based adaptation using building with nature: towards resilient coasts in Indonesia
52 Widely supported guidelines for naturebased solutions in flood risk management
53 Vegetation modelling to assess the development and performance of nature-based flood defences
54 FLOOD RISK
56 EU floods directive in Denmark screening flood risks on the 8000-km-long Danish coast
57 Improving cost-benefit analysis for floodrisk management to account for the interests of the poor
58 Emergency advice for a temporary dam near Grave
59 Serving the community: Coastal and fluvial flood forecasting in Ethekwini (Kwazulu Nathal, South Africa)
60 BASE platform: portal for satellite-derived bathymetry 61 Hurricane Irma: impact-based forecasting put to the test! 62 An improved hydrological cycle with high-
resolution models
63 XBeachX - new anniversary release of the Deltares coastal impact software
64 Asphalt in the delta flume
65 Real-time dam stability monitoring 66 Scour holes in river deltas
67 ADVISORY COUNCIL, SCIENTIFIC COUNCIL AND COLOFON
INTRODUCTION
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• Doel project: monitoren van rijkswateren met onbemande, zelfvarende schepen.
Slag in efficiency, veiligheid, duurzaamheid en flexibiliteit.
• Eerste tests in november 2017 met Engels en Noors testschip. Veilig varen op de Nederlandse Noordzee mogelijk
zonder menselijk ingrijpen.
• Mogelijke vervolgstappen:
- Opstellen juridisch kader voor zelfvarende schepen - Testen in lastige weers- of vaaromstandigheden - Uitbreiden testlocatie naar alle rijkswateren - Verdere integratie Rijkswaterstaat-meetsensoren
met zelfvarend schip
Zelfvarend schip
op de Noordzee
A
large proportion of the research conducted by Deltares centres on the Netherlands, which is located in the Rhine-Meuse delta. The research is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Infra structure and the Environment, whose operational agency, Rijkswaterstaat, is responsible for the management of water, subsurface, environment and infrastructure. Deltares is the main supplier of scientific and technological knowledge for this agency.Deltares is also instrumental in strengthening the competitive position of the Dutch business sector with financial support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs. These ministries invest in the development of innovative tools that private enterprises can use to compete in the international market. In 2012, the government identified ‘Top Sectors’ – parts of our economy it deemed crucial (like agro-food, energy, and logistics) – where it wants to see an improvement in our international position, and an increase in sources of revenue outside the Netherlands. Deltares makes its contribution to the Water Top Sector and its subsector, Delta Technology. Delta Technology involves flood risk management, managing the water system, safeguarding adequate supplies of fresh water for all users, preserving ecosystems, and constructing reliable and sustainable infrastructure and buildings.
Our ability to carry out innovative research to support the Dutch government and private sector requires the long-term
maintenance of a knowledge base with high scientific standards. We accomplish this in part with financing from the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Their subsidy amounts to about 10% of our annual turnover and it is used to support strategic research at Deltares so that we have, for example, the opportunity to launch new joint-industry projects or to co-fund EU projects.
Not only does Deltares work in the Netherlands, we are also active internationally. The internatio nal dimension is imperative: the Dutch market is limited and subsidies have been decreasing, which means we need to focus on problems facing the international community. Knowledge about sustainable delta living is becoming more critical worldwide. The growth of the world’s population is leading to an increased demand for water and natural resources, and putting increasing pressure on ecosystems. Climate change and sea-level rise, together with the increasing population and economic development, will exacerbate flood risks, a development that will be accompanied by a decline in the willingness of the public and business to accept these risks. In this context, Deltares will have opportunities to make more of an impact on the international stage.
Deltares is an international institute located in the Netherlands that engages
in applied research in the field of water, sub surface and infra structure. The
institute’s motto is “Enabling Delta Life”, and it strives to imple ment that motto
by developing and applying top-level expertise to help people live safely and
sustainably in delta areas, coastal zones and river basins. Managing these
densely populated and vulnerable areas is complex, which is why Deltares works
closely with governments, businesses, other research institutes and universities.
INTRODUCTION
Deltares is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with an annual turnover of about €109 million, employing over 800 people at two locations in the Netherlands: Delft and Utrecht.
PROJECTEN
water
New technologies have the potential
to be game changers in the delta
technology sector given their potential to
make ground-breaking innovations. Their
use in other sectors illustrates the disruptive
power of artificial intelligence, big data, cloud
computing, and of advanced materials and
new monitoring techniques.
The focus on technologies is a new element in
the Deltares research strategy. The objective
is to explore emerging technologies and to
make them applicable to the social issues
targeted by Deltares.
Enabling
paradigms used currently will be disrupted and
more effective paradigms will replace them.
Collaboration with technological companies
will also be intensified. New technologies will be
evaluated and implemented for the water and
subsoil domain.
basis of the global simulation models for surface
water, groundwater and hydrology.
New technologies also encourage the
involvement of the general public and
stakeholders in citizen science projects and
crowdsourcing activities.
PROJECTS
Enabling Technologies
DEFORMATION-BASED
ASSESSMENT OF DIKE SAFETY
Dike infrastructure plays a crucialrole in the management of flood risks in low-lying areas near rivers and oceans. The material point method was adopted for dike macrostability analyses with the aim of making safety assessments based on deformation criteria and, given the fact that deformations at initial failure are often quite small, producing more economical designs.
Standard methodologies for assessments of dike macrostability are based on limit equilibrium methods (such as D-Geo Stability) that result in a factor of safety for shear failure. The more advanced alternative is the finite element method (an example being Plaxis) in combination with a strength reduction procedure. However, neither approach can take into account the actual capacity of the dike to retain high water levels since they consider only the mechanical equilibrium of the dike’s initial configuration. In order to overcome this limitation, it was decided to adopt the material point method (MPM), which is available in the Anura3D software at Deltares and which considers the deformation of the dike body during failure.
On the basis of Anura3D MPM calcula tions, it was shown that, for the factor of safety corresponding to the limit equilibrium method, dike crest displacements are very small. This means that the factor of safety does not imply that the dike fails to retain water but only that an initial failure has taken place. After this initial failure, the dike slope stabilises in a new equilibrium position with an updated factor of safety. MPM allows us to look beyond this initial failure. In the case of the analysed dike, which was typical for Dutch condi tions, we found that the dike continued deforming as the load on the dike in creased and that the dike failure was progressive. Profiles for the dike crest deformation were computed that can be used to assess dike safety by combining deformation with criteria for the maximum allowed displace ment of the dike crest.
Moving towards a displacement-based safety assessment of dikes has a positive impact on existing dikes by producing better predictions of their current safety
level and on future dikes by making more economical designs possible. The results can be seen as a first step towards the assessment of dike macrostability on the basis of deformation criteria. Future work will focus on defining the maximum allowed crest displacement within the probabilistic framework of dike safety. The transition towards displacement criteria is likely to require more and different soil investigation approaches in order to determine the deformation parameters reliably.
Contact:
Bruno Zuada Coelho, bruno.zuadacoelho@ deltares.nl, t +31 (0)88 335 7547 Alexander Rohe, alex.rohe@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)88 335 7351
Jonathan Nuttall, jonathan.nuttall@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)88 335 7449
Further reading:
Zuada Coelho et al. (2018). Assessment of dike safety within the framework of large deformation analysis with the material point method. NUMGE2018, 25-27 June 2018, Porto, Portugal
Dike deformation for different locations (left) and loading levels (right) on the crest
T
he GTSM is the first model of its kind, and applications vary from hydrographic services to global flood risk assessments and climate change studies. Given the growing popularity and global scale of the model, external parties have started to show interest in it as a tool for predicting surface currents, a factor of crucial importance for navigation. An ongoing project for Akzo Nobel, the sponsor of the Dutch team in the Volvo Ocean Race, provides the sailing team with current forecasts. However, the currents driven by ocean density were not included in the 2D setup. The development of a three-dimensional version of the GTSM has opened up the market for navigation and other large-scale transport-related issues such as plastic transport.The Delft3D-FM software can represent 3D flows driven by wind forcing and density differences. The main oceanic currents, however, are the result of the large-scale thermohaline circulation, which takes thousands of years to spin up to its current mean state. Furthermore, long-lived ocean eddies tend to form randomly. These eddies are chaotic and characterised by high velocities. Information about them is therefore of major importance for navigation and transport. Assimilation is required in order to represent and forecast these two phenomena accurately in the 3D hydrodynamic model. The assimilation will spin up, sustain and guide the currents in the right direction. A nudging technique has therefore been implemented in the Delft3D-FM software in order to include information about temperature and salinity fields from other sources such as the Ocean Circulation model and satellites. This technique allows us to combine the best capabilities of two types of models: the Ocean Circulation Models in deep waters, and the 3D hydrodynamic model on shelves and coasts. Using the nudging technique, the model successfully reproduced large-scale surface velocities like the Gulf Stream and mesoscale eddies detached from the Agulhas Current in South Africa. It is important to represent eddies in plastic simulations properly so that we capture where the plastic is transported and where it may accumulate. The plots show distinct accumulation zones of plastics around eddies.
Running models of this kind poses a challenge in terms of computational resources and capabilities. The model contained
more than 2 million nodes in the horizontal direction and 43 layers in the vertical direction. This model size has never been exceeded in Deltares in the past. Future developments include the validation of currents, global-scale study of plastic transport and the improvement of memory issues involved when running large models.
Contact:
Maialen Irazoqui, Maialen.irazoqui@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 2303 5156
Deltares has developed the Global Tide and
Surge Model (GTSM) in recent years. The model
shows total water levels, including tides and
meteorologically driven surges, on a global
scale.
Final location of particles calculated after one year
Surface velocities from the 3D GTSM using the nudging technique
MULTI-RESOLUTION GLOBAL
MODELLING
OF SURFACE
PROJECTS
Enabling Technologies
Deltares launched the free Nitrate App in
2016. The app reads and interprets nitrate test
strips accurately, displaying the measured
concentration immediately and giving users
the option of sharing the result. Shared results
are immediately visualised on a map in the app
and online. Since the launch, we have seen an
increase in the ways the app is used.
Best nutrient management practices
The Nitrate App was originally designed to allow farmers to measure nitrate concentrations on their own farms. It was hoped that this would encourage farmers to talk to specialists about the best management practices (BMPs) for nutrients on their farms. Several groups of farmers have recently started to use the Nitrate App and to discuss their results with each other and with the authorities.
Nitrate concentration routings in catchments
Users can generate a map within a day showing nitrate concentrations at the catchment scale to identify nitrate loss hot spots. Distinct point sources were found in several routings in agricultural catchments, for example at small-scale plants for processing manure. These routings proved that the Nitrate App can help water managers to target conservation practices more accurately on areas with the highest nitrate concentrations and loads.
Screening the quality of drinking water Approximately 250,000 people using
10,000 domestic drinking water wells in the Salinas and San Joaquin valleys in California are at risk of excessive exposure to nitrates (http://groundwaternitrate. ucdavis.edu/). The California State Water Resources Control Board, and the Central Coast Water Board, have been working on a pilot project with the Nitrate App to determine how accurate it is by comparison with laboratory results as a screening tool for drinking water quality. Eighty wells in the San Luis Obispo County area have now been sampled and tested for the pilot project.
Illegal spills
Several water authorities in the Netherlands decided to use the Nitrate App to locate illegal spills. In the Langeveldse Loop catchment near Horst, a drain from a glasshouse with NO3-N concentrations of over 200 mg/l was located using the Nitrate App. Flow route contributions
Is nitrate mainly transported to a stream through subsurface drains or through groundwater? A
three-hour screening programme was completed on 19 April 2017 in the Salto river in Slagelse, Denmark. The nitrate concentrations in drainage effluent were significantly higher than in-stream concentrations. Other current uses are the collection of extra measurements (including pH and NH4) in the National Monitoring Network for the Evaluation of the Manure Policy in the Netherlands, and several educational initiatives in cooperation with schools and universities.
Contact
Joachim Rozemeijer joachim.rozemeijer@deltares.nl t +31 (0)6 2274 8708
Further reading:
www.deltares.nl/nitrate-app
T
he innovative spatial information platform that was developed provides open and INSPIRE-compliant data and tools to identify, assess and reduce water-related problems. The open data has been used as a vehicle for innovations in the scientific domains of floods, droughts, water quality, global change and adaptation to change. Deltares led the development of the online Open Data Registration and Data Upload tool for registering new open datasets and corresponding metadata in the open catalogue. This catalogue can be searched using another new online tool: the Browse Your Open Datasets tool (BYOD). This catalogue of open datasets contains more than 8,000 unique references to open – mainly earth observation – datasets with information about their user conditions and where or how to obtain the datasets. At the endof the project, this catalogue became a registered data provider for the GEOSS open data portal. This means that the SWITCH-ON metadata catalogue will be harvested on a regular basis so that references can be searched from GEOSS as well.
SWITCH-ON advocated an entirely new form of collaborative research for water-related sciences. We developed a tool for capturing all relevant information and meta-information for new hydrological experiments in the Protocol Tool. During the project, scientists from all over Europe used this tool to write down, review and share their ‘structured recipe’ for their hydrological experiments. The tool is open for registration and scientists will be invited to contribute in different ways: to work together on the development and discussion of new ideas for research, to review existing protocols
to further the reproducibility of the experiments.
Another goal of SWITCH-ON was the production of a set of fourteen new operational products and services dedicated to appointed end users, in conjunction with the development of new business and knowledge as support for individual and collective decisions in line with the Europe’s smart growth and environmental objectives. We developed two of those data products. The first was the Forecast Broker, an open archive and searchable catalogue for hydrological forecasts, and the second was NUTPRINT, an online tool for raising awareness about, and visualising, the nutrient footprint on European coastal waters for any location on the European continent. Since SWITCH-ON covered numerous water-related activities, we produced three overview movies based on the European Union’s three-O’s approach (Open Innovation, Open Science and Open to the World). They are available on http://www.water-switch-on.eu/ the_3_O_movies.html.
Contact:
Gerben Boot, gerben.boot@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)88 335 8366
Further reading:
http://www.water-switch-on.eu/
SWITCH
-ON:
OPEN DATA PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY CLOSED
Deltares and another fourteen consortium partners have successfully completed the SWITCH-ON project. The aim of this EU FP7 project, which ran from 2013 to 2017, was to exploit the European Open Data Strategy to mobilise the use of environmental data and information. The project targeted the sustainable use of water resources, a safe society and the advancement of hydrological sciences.
PROJECTEN
water
Building on or in the soft soil of deltas
is not without risks. The same applies
to structures offshore, near coasts, and in
harbours and river beds. Deltares research
focuses on reducing costs and risks when
building in coastal regions, in soft ground and
at sea. Innovative solutions are designed to
make existing infrastructure climate change
proof, if possible using natural processes.
Delta
infrastructure
Social and economic impact
The world’s population will increase to nine billion
by 2050 and they are concentrated more and
more in delta areas. These areas are increasingly
threatened by climate change, rising sea levels and
land subsidence. Not only the growing population
but also rising prosperity are leading to more
mobility and a greater interest in sustainability,
including the use of natural processes. These
trends will intensify demand for natural resources
and renewable energy.
acceptable environmental impact.
The national and international oil and gas industry,
contractors and consultants can draw on our
know-ledge, software and facilities in order to improve
their competitiveness. Knowledge institutions
of infrastructure. And public authorities can develop
sustainable solutions that minimise the
environ-mental impact, such as Green Ports. Universities
strengthen their position in national and European
research programmes and doctorate and master
students are hosted and supervised by Deltares.
PROJECTS
Water and subsoil resources
PROJECTS
Delta Infrastructure
Coastal erosion is a serious issue for many beaches
on the east coast of South Korea, threatening the
coastal infrastructure and communities. Despite
the fact that the processes driving coastal
erosion were often not well understood, many
structures have been built on the east coast in
recent decades. These structures do not always
mitigate the erosion effectively.
As part of a research project launched by the Korean government to better understand and mitigate coastal erosion, the Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) and Deltares set up a three-year research (2015-2018) alliance with the aim of developing a state-of-the-art numerical modelling framework to help the Korean coastal engineering community to assess and mitigate coastal erosion processes. Capacity building for Korean coastal engineers is also a crucial component of the project. Anmok beach was selected as a representative case study to test and improve the framework.
The east coast of Korea is a complex system with strong temporal variations in the wave climate, typhoons, migrating crescentic sandbars in the nearshore and many human
interventions. The time scales of these processes range from hours (individual storms, for example) to decades (large-scale coastline reorientation due to changing wave climates and human interventions, for instance). The modelling framework developed therefore consists of numerical models covering these relevant time scales (in other words, XBeach, Delft3D and UNIBEST-CL+).
In the project we improved and extended standard practice with state-of-the-art knowledge and tools by, among other things: • including the effects of infragravity waves and beach states
(in other words, bars and cusps) to make better predictions of storm erosion, wave run-up and wave overtopping at storm time scales;
• developing tools to combine bathymetric surveys with observations from satellite imagery in order to quantify decade-scale sandbar dynamics;
• designing an approach to explore the effects of climate change on the wave climate and large-scale coastline reorientation;
• assessing the effectiveness of coastal interventions in mitigating coastal erosion at different time scales (including uncertainties).
The modelling framework has been transferred to KIOST in the form of modelling software and tools, guidelines, scientific publications and reports. Furthermore, KIOST staff members visited Deltares for several months for capacity-building activities in the form of on-the-job training, regular project meetings and the joint preparation of papers. The findings of the project have also been disseminated to the wider coastal engineering community in the form of open source software tools, papers and seven Master theses. The next steps include capacity-building for the wider Korean engineering community and application to other cases on the Korean east coast with the intention of not only better understanding the causes of the coastal erosion but also producing more effective measures for erosion control.
Contact
Wiebe de Boer, wiebe.deboer@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 4691 1209
Further reading:
http://coastaldynamics2017.dk/onewebmedia/014_DeBoer_Wiebe.pdf
EROSION ON THE KOREAN EAST COAST:
FROM UNDERSTANDING TO PRACTICE
The ee-FEX (Earth Engine-Feature Extraction) tool for detecting sandbars on Anmok beach using satellite imagery,
EROSION ON THE KOREAN EAST COAST:
FROM UNDERSTANDING TO PRACTICE
SCOUR
PROTECTION
HANDBOOK
A
lthough over 4,000 offshore turbines are now connected to the grid, there were no guidelines until recently on how to design scour protection safely and cost-effectively. A wide range of designs have therefore been installed, even in neighbouring wind farms. The result is either an increase in maintenance costs and a risk of cable damage, or conservative, over-expensive designs. The Handbook Scour Protection methods (HaSPro) Joint Industry Project was established to solve these issues by systematically testing a wide range of scour protection methods under all governing hydrodynamic conditions. In addition to several designs consisting of loose rock, more innovative solutions based on artificial vegetation, ballast-filled mattresses, gabions, block mattresses and even self-installable mattresses were also put to the test.In the HasPro project, model tests were performed at three different model scales: in the Scheldt Flume (small scale), the Atlantic Basin (intermediate scale) and the Delta Flume, which is the world’s largest wave flume. The most innovative concepts were first investigated at the smallest scale. This scale is suitable for fast cycle times and quick modifications of the test setup. In the next step, it was possible to include the full offshore hydrodynamics with a mobile sediment bed at the intermediate scale. Edge scour, falling apron effects and winnowing (the removal of sediment by suction) were also
studied at this scale. Finally, selected concepts were validated at the largest scale in the Delta Flume. A monopile weighing 4,000 kg and equipped with observation windows and a high-tech camera system was mounted in the flume and installed in a sediment bed. Two months of testing resulted in an abundance of data that are being converted into new design formulae.
A trend in the future, now that the Levelised Cost of Energy for offshore wind energy has been dropping significantly, will be to improve ecological values in the wind farms. Scour protection systems are already known for their biodiversity. In HaSPro, we are taking this one step further: we aim to adapt scour-protection designs in order to attract two umbrella species: the European flat oyster and the Atlantic cod.
The test results are available in a large database that can be accessed using a dedicated 3D viewer. They show the relevant deformation patterns for all tested methods under various design conditions. The new design formulae are incorporated in the Scour Protection Design Tool. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality techniques were used for the visual interpretation of the results.
This project is supported by twenty industrial partners, the Dutch Top Consortia for Knowledge and Innovation (TKI) “Offshore Wind” and TKI “Delta Technology”.
Contact
Tim Raaijmakers, tim.raaijmakers@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 4691 1177 Greta van Velzen, greta.vanvelzen@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)88 335 8054
Further reading
https://topsectorenergie.nl/tki-wind-op-zee/rd-projecten/haspro-jip-handbook-scour-protection-methods
When an offshore wind turbine is installed, the
disturbed flow around the foundation causes
enhanced sediment transport at the base of
the foundation, resulting in the development
of scour holes. Scour can undermine shallow
foundations or change the natural frequency
of monopile foundations, resulting in shorter
lifetimes due to fatigue. The most common
way to mitigate this risk involves the
installation of scour protection.
T
o help RVO.nl, Deltares has performed numerous studies of the morphodynamics, metocean conditions, geology and scour at the planned wind farms. The results of the site studies relating to obstructions, soil and wind and water conditions at new wind farms are available to the public on https://offshorewind.rvo.nl/.Our main contributions involved the assessment of seabed dynamics in the Borssele and Hollandse Kust wind farms using state-of-the-art analysis techniques with high spatial detail. In both sites, there is an abundance of migrating bed forms, such as sand waves, which can threaten the stability of foundations and the burial depth of electricity cables. The direction of sand-wave migration was determined by extracting the steepest slope orientations from the isolated and differentiated sand wave field. Migration rates were determined using an optimised 1D cross-correlation technique applied on transects extracted from distinct bathymetrical surveys. Analysis results were supplemented by the detailed numerical modelling of net sediment transport rates,
which confirmed the directions found and which had a relative spatial distribution of magnitudes that was comparable with the migration rates. When studying the wind and water conditions (‘metocean conditions’), we considered local variations in the Borssele Wind Farm Zone by using a dedicated numerical model that includes the influence of sand banks and sand waves. We also helped with metocean measurement campaigns for Hollandse Kust by validating the buoy data on the basis of nearby measurement stations and operational numerical models. The main outcomes of these studies were the expected lowest and highest seabed levels over the design lifetime of the wind farm, which were validated on the basis of geological information about non-erodible layers. These expected levels were used to provide general recommendations about how to deal with scour development and mitigation strategies for a range of potential foundation types. High-fidelity seabed levels can be used to determine the layout of the wind farm and the electrical infrastructure using tools recently developed for the optimisation of
cable routes and the result is a significant reduction in the risk of cable failure caused by seabed dynamics.
The expectation at the start of the five-year programme was that the price per kWh offered in tenders would fall to 10.75 euro cents. Quite remarkably, this expectation was surpassed: the price per kWh fell rapidly to 7.27 and 5.45 cents as early as the first Borssele tenders. The Hollandse Kust (zuid) wind farm will actually be built without subsidies. Open access to research results has significantly contributed to the rapid decline in the Levelised Cost of Energy for offshore wind energy.
Contact
Tom Roetert, tom.roetert@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 1522 3195
Tim Raaijmakers, tim.raaijmakers@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 4691 1177
Further reading:
Roetert et al. (2017) http://www.isope.org/ publications/proceedings/ISOPE/ISOPE%20 2017/data/64789-isope-vol1-1.3616074/ t002-1.3617324/f010-1.3617344/a084-1.3617351.html
In 2016, the Netherlands launched a campaign to raise its offshore wind power capacity by 3,500 MW before the end of 2023, boosting the country’s cumulative total capacity to 4,500 MW. An important precondition for the achievement of this goal is the lowering of the Levelised Cost of Energy from offshore wind by providing a stable market framework to reduce risks and costs for developers of wind farms.
Sand-wave fields on top of sand banks in the Borssele wind farm area
RAPID FALL IN THE COST OF
OFFSHORE WIND ENERGY
H
owever, this transition represents a major challenge owing to the need to fulfil the conditions and requirements of multiple stakeholders such as shipping lines, cargo owners, financial institutions and society at large. In response, Deltares has developed a framework for a Green Port Policy in line with the ‘Green Growth’ concept of the World Bank. The Green Port Policy describes how ports can minimise or mitigate the negative impacts of port area development, climate change and other environmental risks in their current operations and future development. Instead of describing economically thriving ports and healthy ecosystems as opposing aims, Deltares argues that the two can be combined by adopting environmentally and socially responsible port concepts as part of a viable long-term economic solution.In 2017, Deltares developed a Green Port Policy for the Tanzania Port Authorities (TPA) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In a consortium with Royal HaskoningDHV, Deltares applied a policy of this kind in collaboration with the local stakeholders by defining the steps and developments required to become a green port and by creating an action plan for implementation. Deltares delivered policy measures, as well as an initial assessment and rating of sustainable performance for some of these measures as they have been observed in other ports. This enables a comparison between international ports in terms of sustainability factors, including the long-term plans of the port and port-city interaction. TPA senior management used the ten-step Green Port Policy developed by Deltares that stipulates how TPA can minimise and mitigate the negative social and environmental impacts of port operations, taking into account the current situation and potential future developments. The policy builds on previous work, serves as a guide for decision-making, and creates awareness among all stakeholders of the importance of being a Green Port.
The overall outcome of the programme was a master plan setting out the Green Port action required for the sustainable improvement of port infrastructure, operational and clearance procedures, reduced cargo-dwell times, and increased port capacity for the port of Dar es Salaam. This includes not only long-term actions and ambitions but also short-term actions: the ‘quick wins’. In addition, TPA can use the Green Port Policy as a formal yardstick for discussions about how to implement these actions: who takes ownership, which stakeholders need to be involved, funding possibilities, a timeline of the different steps and how TPA should move forward on the road to becoming a genuine ‘sustainable port of the future’, not only at Dar es Salaam but also at the other ports that TPA manages throughout Tanzania.
Contact:
Martijn de Jong, martijn.dejong@deltares.nl t +31 (0)88 335 8596 Cor Schipper, cor.schipper@rws.nl t +31 (0)6 5379 4288
Further reading:
https://www.deltares.nl/en/projects/ports-of-the-future/
Improving the efficiency and sustainability of port
operations improves the regional competitive
position of ports, attracts professional clients
with profitable business, and safeguards a
‘license to operate’ in the future.
Presentation by TPA deputy director on Green Port Policy Port of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Port of the Future serious game
GREEN PORT POLICY
Bubble screens are exactly what the name
suggests: screens of bubbles in water. They are
used, for example, to mix water in lakes or to
collect plastics from rivers. They are also used
in locks between salt and fresh water bodies
to reduce the amount of salt intrusion during
passages. This maintains the quality of the
fresh water, not only for ecological reasons
and but also to ensure that the water can be
used for agriculture and for drinking.
BUBBLE
SCREENS
“t” indicates the time in seconds after the opening of the lock door
The use of bubble screens in shipping locks has been a subject of research for some time. Several studies have demonstrated their effectiveness. Unless appropriate mitigation measures are taken, recent shipping traffic developments, such as increasing shipping intensity and the enormous size of modern locks, will lead to a rise in salt intrusion.
Bubble screens generally require a large air flow rate and therefore significant compressor size. The design must be optimised to reduce salt intrusion effectively while minimising the use of energy. Modern locks are very large and deep and they therefore represent a challenge for bubble screen technology. The Dutch government recently granted subsidies for fundamental research on this topic.
Physical scale-model measurements were made in a flume in the facilities at Deltares in 2017. They generated highly accurate data with a high spatial resolution. The performance of the bubble screen at varying air flow rates was assessed and high accuracy was required to detect potentially subtle differences. The experimental flume had two compartments of equal size that were separated by a metal sheet representing a lock door. One compartment contained saline water; the other contained fresh water. A lock exchange was simulated by lifting
the door, with the effects being attenuated by the bubble screen. A dye was added to the saline compartment before the door was lifted in order to visualise the mixing of the water bodies. The effects were monitored using two optical measurement techniques: particle-image velocimetry (PIV) measurements of the flow induced by the bubble screen and a calibrated video recording of the mixing induced by the screen. Two bubble generators were tested that created either large or fine bubbles and several air flow rates were used.
The experiments provided high-spatial-resolution pictures of the mixing achieved with the bubble screen and quantitative data for the exchange flow. It was concluded that higher air-flow rates may reduce the effectiveness of the bubble screen in terms of salt intrusion mitigation. The results help to understand better how bubble screens can be used in practice. This is useful for Rijkswaterstaat and market parties for the purposes of bubble screen use or design. The physical scale-model results will be used in a follow-up study to validate numerical computations for this application.
Contact
Pepijn van der Ven Pepijn.vanderVen@Deltares.nl t +31 (0)88 335 8395
PROJECTS
Delta Infrastructure
pExchange of salt (blue, on right) and fresh water (transparent, on left)
Yachts and a bubble screen in the Krammer recreational lock, the Netherlands
T
his research project focused on the interaction of the filling jet with the ship using scale model measurements. The project was part of the knowledge programme for hydraulic structures, which is a collaboration involving Dutch knowledge institutes, Rijkswaterstaat and market parties for studying, among several other things, the levelling process in shipping locks.Scale model measurements were performed at Deltares in a flume with a schematised lock and ship geometry. The geometry did not include any variation in the flume width in order to simplify the interpretation of the results and comply with the 2D assumptions of Lockfill. In addition to the forces on the ship, the flow pattern was also measured using highly detailed PIV (particle image velocimetry) flow measurements. All of the data obtained are available on data.4tu.nl.
The distance between the ship and the lock gates was varied during the tests. The results provided a detailed picture of the filling jet flowing into the lock. The PIV measurements, which were performed both with a ship located near the gate and with no ship present, showed that the filling jet is actually pulled upwards when a ship is located close to the gate. This counterintuitive observation can be explained by how the ship limits the dimensions of eddies occurring between the lock gate and ship’s bow.
The jet’s direction and spread are also affected by the lock geometry. The Coandă effect, or the jet’s tendency to stick to the lock floor, was clear to see in the measurements. When accurate information is available about the spread of the jet, the force on the ship can be computed (using Lockfill, for example) on the basis of the jet’s momentum flux.
These measurements helped to understand how the ship affects the flow pattern and how, consequently, this flow exerts a force on the ship. The measured forces were compared with Lockfill model results and a good match was found, from which it could be concluded that this simple and computationally fast model still provides useful results. The insights generated by this study are valuable for the safe operation of existing locks, which need to handle higher traffic intensities and increasingly large vessels.
Contact:
Pepijn van der Ven, Pepijn.vanderVen@Deltares.nl, t +31 (0)88 335 8395
Further reading:
Van der Ven & Van Loon (2018), The Interaction of a Lock’s Filling Jet and the Ship in the Lock Chamber, using Scale Model Measurements, International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures
INTERACTION
OF A FILLING
JET AND A VESSEL IN A LOCK
Accurate predictions of the forces exerted on a vessel during levelling are required during the design of shipping locks to ensure safe and swift operation. Those predictions are often made by distinguishing between several force mechanisms, of which the translatory wave, filling jet and density current are generally the most important. Predictions can be made using computational tools such as Lockfill, which was developed by Deltares.
Overview of measurement set-up The filling discharge at the water surface for the Krammer recreational lock, Netherlands Flow velocities measured with PIV, situation with a ship and without a ship
PROJECTS
Delta Infrastructure
I
n recent years, Deltares has been involved in several European research programmes such as RIMAROCC (Risk management for roads in a changing climate), ROADAPT (Roads for today, adapted for tomorrow) and INTACT (impact of extreme weather on critical infrastructures). These projects have resulted in both practical guidelines for infrastructure owners and operators, and an adaptation strategy tool. After the successful implementation of the guidelines in the Netherlands, for example in the InnovA58 project, the next step was to apply the approach outside Europe. In Istanbul (Turkey), these methods have been used to develop a BusinessContinuity Plan (BCP) for the management of an industrialised area. A risk assessment was carried out first to identify natural hazards threatening lifeline utilities (such as the electricity supply, ICT, and water treatment). A central element in the approach is a collaborative process in which stakeholders’ experiences are used to assess the consequences of failure of the lifeline utilities in terms of the costs of the destruction of business and damage to the reputation of the industries. Several workshops were organised for the purposes of implementing this process. In addition, the level of acceptable risk was determined in consultation with the local industries. Where unacceptable risks
were identified, a ‘recovery time objective’ was established and measures were described to ensure that the recovery from a failure of the lifeline utilities will be achieved before outage times become unacceptable. The results of the project will directly benefit area management and should enhance the competitiveness of the area and its industries. The approach developed will be implemented in other organised industrial areas in Turkey. In Paraguay, the approach has been used in a pilot project to develop an adaptation strategy for the national road operator. This strategy is needed to ensure the implementation of a proper maintenance plan for the road network. The first step was to establish a picture of the risks for the road network associated with natural hazards and climate change. A collaborative approach with the road operator and other stakeholders was also adopted in this project. This was necessary to establish an awareness of the effects of climate change and extreme weather, to establish a picture of the consequences of any outage of the roads and to collect data. The vulnerability assessment method developed in the ROADAPT project was used for the last of these goals since it makes it possible to identify vulnerable locations on the basis of limited data. Adaptation strategies were developed for the main risks identified. The method used here was the Dynamic Adaptation Policy Pathways approach for decision-making under uncertainty that explicitly considers decision-making over time. The output is used by the road operator in the implementation of its maintenance plan and contracts.
Contact:
Thomas Bles, Thomas.Bles@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 1173 4843 Further reading: https://www.deltares.nl/en/projects/climate- change-risk-assessments-and-adaptation-for-roads-the-roadapt-project/
BUILDING RESILIENCE
TO EXTREME WEATHER AND CLIMATE
CHANGE INTO CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES
Infrastructure is the backbone of our modern societies. The general public, industry and government depend on the safety and availability of infrastructure systems. Extreme weather is often a stress factor affecting those systems, and therefore their reliability. Given the critical role of infrastructure for society and climate change, timely adaptation is required.‘T
o date, no liquefaction has been observed in Groningen after earthquakes but we know from examples abroad that this is a risk in earthquake areas,’ says geo-engineering expert Mandy Korff. ‘On behalf of NAM, we are investigating when sand will liquefy and lose its strength. We are looking at sands of different ages. We expect, for example, the old sand from the Pleistocene to be stronger than is currently assumed in our calculation models and in any case stronger than the recently deposited, younger Holocene sand. These tests will allow us to determine with more certainty the risks of liquefaction for a given earthquake strength, and therefore to make better estimates as to whether and which measures must be taken to prevent or limit damage.’This was the first time that frozen samples had been taken in Europe. The sampling method was first tested and monitored in the laboratory. After successful sampling in the laboratory, preparations were made for sampling in the field in Groningen under the supervision of permafrost experts from Alaska (CRRL). At each site, an area of 2 x 2 metres was frozen to a maximum depth of 10 metres using nitrogen. The temperature was monitored using fibre optics. The samples were drilled in the frozen soil body and transported in frozen form to the Deltares geotechnical laboratory in Delft. They will then be kept frozen during sample preparation before being defrosted shortly before the start of the laboratory tests in 2018. They will comprise the application of static and cyclic loads. We will use the results to validate current and new models for liquefaction. The work is part of the NAM study programme looking at risk management for earthquakes in Groningen (NAM.nl).
Contact
Mandy Korff, mandy.korff@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 5136 9569
Further reading:
https://www.deltares.nl/en/news/deltares-studies-the-strength-of-sand-in-groningen/
How strong is the Groningen sand in the subsoil
during an earthquake? That is the question
addressed by this study, which involves sampling at
three locations in Groningen. Earthquakes can
cause an imbalance in the sand and groundwater,
turning it into quicksand in a process
known as ‘liquefaction’. The result is that
the sand loses its strength, with possible
damage to buildings, dikes, gas pipes and
power lines as a result. The aim of this
study is to assess the chances of this
happening in Groningen. However, taking
the samples while minimising the
disturbance of the sand grains is not an easy task.
Specialised methods were used such as the freezing
of the soil before sampling
.
UNRAVELLING THE SECRET
OF LIQUEFACTION IN LOOSE
SANDS BY FREEZING
Tsunami wave breaking on top of the intake structure
Vertical and horizontal forces on the velocity cap when the tsunami passes by
Detailed measurements of the velocity field around the intake structure using PIV
PROJECTS
Delta Infrastructure
MEASURING TSUNAMI FORCES
TO DESIGN SAFE COOLING
SYSTEMS FOR POWER PLANTS
N
umerical models like the free, open-source CFD software OpenFOAM are often used to design intake structures of this kind. However, these tools can only provide reliable results when they are calibrated against accurate measurements. Physical scale-model tests were therefore performed at Deltares to measure the forces on an intake structure during a simulated tsunami event. In addition, the flow patterns around these structures were determined using highly detailed PIV measurements. These advanced measurements allow us to establish a thorough understanding of the flow patterns near the intake structure during a tsunami event. This fundamental understanding of the hydraulic behaviour near the intake structure will allow us to make better predictions of the hydraulic loads that occur during a tsunami event. These tests were performed in the Eastern Scheldt flume test facility at Deltares and they will be used in the future as validation material for our numerical models, which can be applied for design purposes.The Hydraulic Engineering unit regularly conducts hydraulic modelling studies for the design of intake and outfall structures for plant owners or contractors. These studies include a range of assessments that cover, for example, the integrity of the pumps in the pumping station, the potential for recirculation in the plant, the environmental impact of a plant, the design of coastal structures such as breakwaters and the hydraulic verification of the intake and outfall design. The excessive hydraulic forces during a tsunami must be determined for the purposes of designing tsunami-resistant intake structures in order to ensure
that there is enough cooling water for nuclear and conventional power plants in the most extreme situations.
Contact
Anton de Fockert, anton.defockert@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)88 335 7950
Power plants use large amounts of cooling water.
To obtain cooling water, large intake structures
are generally built near rivers and in coastal
regions. Since power stations (nuclear and
conventional) in coastal regions could be
vulnerable to tsunamis, the forces on these
structures need to be determined accurately in
order to design them to be tsunami-resistant.
ANURA3D MPM FOR LARGE-DEFORMATION
GEO TECHNICAL AND HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING
The first international conference on the material point method (MPM) for modelling large deformation and soil-water-structure interaction (MPM2017) took place at Deltares on 10–12 January 2017. On this occasion, the Anura3D MPM Software was launched. The software can be used for the numerical modelling of a wide range of geotechnical and hydraulic engineering problems. The results demonstrate the applicability of Anura3D MPM and will help to further its use in the academic world and engineering practice. Some high lights are described here
.
Pile installation in saturated sand (Galavi V., Beuth L., Zuada Coelho B., Tehrani F.S., Hölscher P., Van Tol F.): Offshore monopile installation was modelled to capture the mechanical behaviour of saturated sand for impact and vibratory driven installation techniques. The capabilities of MPM were demonstrated with reference to field tests carried out in Cuxhaven, Germany. Cone penetration in clay (Ceccato F., Beuth L., Simonini P.): The contact algorithm in MPM has been extended to
include adhesive contact, which is essential for cohesive soils under undrained conditions, and applied to the simulation of cone penetration testing. The adhesion at the cone-soil interface significantly affects the measured cone resistance. The Anura3D results were compared with analytical and experimental data, and its effectiveness in describing undrained penetration in clay was demonstrated. Dike seepage flow failure (Martinelli M., Rohe A., Soga K.): The onset and evolution of the failure of a sand dike due to seepage flow was analysed. The double point MPM formulation with an elastic, perfectly-plastic soil model and the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion was adopted. For comparison purposes, the onset of failure was also simulated with the standard finite element method. It was shown that MPM can satisfactorily model the essential features of the failure mechanism of the dike.
Installation of geocontainers (Zuada Coelho B., Rohe A., Soga K.): One- and two-dimensional poro-elastic solid flows were modelled. The MPM model was validated by comparing the solid flow velocity with the analytical solution. It was shown that the soil stiffness has an effect on the poro-elastic flow velocity due to swelling and bending for the 1D and 2D cases respectively.
Water jetting of soil bed (Liang D., Zhao X., Martinelli M.): The jetting process for constructing pipe trenches for buried offshore pipelines was simulated. The effect of the water jet speed on the trenching process was analysed. The advantages of the MPM model when handling the free surface and soil-water interaction problems were illustrated and the results are useful for the offshore oil and gas industry.
Internal erosion (Yerro A., Rohe A., Soga K.): Internal erosion involving processes such as piping, soil contact erosion, or suffusion (in a bimodal internally unstable soil specimen) were modelled using Anura3D. The fine soil fraction was eroded from the solid skeleton by the prescribed water flow in line with the erosion law and it was transported as a fluidised material through the saturated porous media. This process is one of the main causes of the failure of water-retaining structures such as dikes and dams and it also controls the amount of sand production in oil-producing wells.
Contact:
Alexander Rohe, alex.rohe@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)88 335 7351
Further reading:
www.mpm2017.eu
Pile installation
Social and economic impact
Demand for natural resources will continue to
increase as the world’s population grows to
more than nine billion people in 2050. Demand
for fresh water will rise by 55%. Conflicts and
debates over water management may also
become more intense.
The water and subsoil resources theme
therefore focuses on establishing more accurate
estimates of levels of natural resources such as
water, energy and raw materials. The goal is also
The main aim of this theme is to understand
and manage the availability of water and
subsoil resources for different uses in order to
resolve shortages, now and in the future. To
fulfil that aim, we develop knowledge about
subsoil resources and water availability in
river basins and deltas.
Water and subsoil
resources
to process those data. In addition, innovative
solutions – such as the storage of fresh water in
the subsurface during periods of surplus water for
use in dry periods – are being developed to tackle
freshwater scarcity on the local and regional
scales. This theme enhances our insight into
possible relationships between water scarcity
Deltares. In addition, businesses optimise their
products and services using Deltares evaluations
of new methods and techniques for data
gathering, data handling and visualisations. And
finally, governments worldwide learn more about
water risks such as scarcity or lack of quality
using analyses conducted by Deltares.
PROJECTS
Water and subsoil resources
Population growth and economic developments
are leading to an increase in demand for water
resources. Furthermore, many projections indicate
that climate change will have a negative impact
on the availability of water. Measures to reduce
the risk of water shortages can be costly and they
often require long-term planning
strategies.
A thorough understanding of drought-related risks for the various water users is of crucial importance in the decision-making process. Risk is typically defined as the combination of hazard (the meteorological/hydrological event), exposure (assets and population) and vulnerability (the susceptibility of the exposed units to the hazard).
The Dutch government established the Delta Programme to protect the Netherlands from flooding and to secure freshwater supplies against the backdrop of climate change. A set of measures and regulations was defined to mitigate potential drought impacts in the Netherlands. However, extreme drought events were not taken into account at that point in the cost-benefit analysis that was used to select measures. A drought risk approach that includes a variety of drought events is therefore clearly needed. Since extreme events are, by definition, rare in historical records, valuable additional information can be obtained by using synthetic time series covering, for example, 1,000 or 10,000 years.
The objective of our research was to develop synthetic time series that are realistic and representative for current and future climate conditions. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is particularly interested in the formulation of a multitude of plausible drought events (synthetic or actual) that can be used as ‘stress tests’ for water availability in the Netherlands. The development of synthetic time series is by no means straightforward because multiple characteristics of the observed time series need to be reproduced simultaneously. These characteristics include exceedance probabilities of threshold values and mutual correlations between different time series. Techniques that focus on reproducing one of these characteristics often affect the reproduction of the other characteristics.
We developed a stochastic model framework for generating realistic time series of meteorological and hydrological variables that characterise drought events. The method combines an autoregressive modelling approach and a copula method for incorporating dependence between time series. The method is fully stochastic, which means that the relevant physical processes are not explicitly modelled. The method is generically structured and it can therefore be used in a range of locations and rivers. The main output of our research is a set of realistic synthetic time series of meteorological and hydrological variables and a model that can provide series of this kind. The model was applied to a case study in the Netherlands. Synthetic time series for discharges in the Rhine and rainfall in the Netherlands were generated. The characteristics of the synthetic time series closely matched the observed time series.
The framework was developed in the EU Horizon2020 research programme IMPREX - IMproving PRedictions and management of hydrological Extremes.
Contact
Ferdinand Diermanse, Ferdinand.diermanse@deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 1039 8546
Further reading:
http://www.imprex.eu/
DROUGHT EVENT SIMULATION
AND DROUGHT RISK ANALYSIS
qDrought affecting the Rhine (source: beeldbank.rws.nl)
DROUGHT EVENT SIMULATION
AND DROUGHT RISK ANALYSIS
pUpdating the Jalaur River Basin Master Plan in the Philippines
Co-development of a meta-model for the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100
PARTICIPATORY AND COLLABORATIVE
MODELLING: KEY TO SUSTAINABLE
AND INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT
T
he lack of knowledge about the system of water resources, disagreements between water users and an inadequate focus on operationalisation are frequent causes of limited acceptance and problems with the practical implementation of IWRM plans. Informed decision-making and stakeholder engagement in the planning and decision-making processes are therefore important to create the enabling conditions for sus-tainable water-resource planning and management.Participatory and collaborative modelling can further sustainable development since it supports informed decision- making and inclusive development. We have looked at how to develop and use computer-based simulation models with a participatory or collaborative modelling approach for managing water resources in
order to improve their use and strengthen ownership. In essence, participatory and collaborative modelling helps to bring modellers, stakeholders and makers together to improve the decision-making process. Typically, these parties are involved in water resources management but they tend to follow separate pathways. On the one hand, technical experts build analytical models to provide institutions with high-quality information. On the other, stakeholders engage in consultations about existing problems in the river basin and help to develop possible interventions. These two pathways are often in parallel and tend to meet only at the beginning of the process when data is being collected and at the end when model results are presented for discus sion and decision-making. Stakeholders often have little option but to accept the results obtained by the technical experts. They tend to see models as ‘black boxes’ which they understand poorly and in which they lack confidence; they are therefore often suspicious about the outcomes and decisions made. Participatory and collaborative modelling establishes strong connections between technical experts and stakeholders. Stakeholders feel they are part of the process as their knowledge, interests and needs are actively considered and valued. Together, technical experts and stakeholders build consensus, they have a sense of ownership of the solutions developed and they trust the decision-making process. Moreover, the use of participatory and collaborative modelling makes the modelling process
more efficient. The combination of both technical and local knowledge helps to establish a more accurate model. Data collection does not become a bottle neck in the modelling process and models can be validated faster.
Nine study cases were used to develop and test four methods for participatory and collaborative modelling. The topics and countries include river basin planning in Indonesia and the Philippines, water quality management in Turkey and Indonesia, adaptive planning in Bangladesh, groundwater management in the Netherlands, and flood risk management in the Netherlands and Tanzania.
Contact
Laura Basco Carrera, Laura.bascocarrera@ deltares.nl, t +31 (0)6 3063 1097
Further reading
https://publicwiki.deltares.nl/display/CM/ Collaborative+Modelling+in+Deltares
In line with the Sustainable
Development Agenda 2030,
Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) is seen as
the process which promotes the
coordinated development and
management of water, land and
related resources to achieve
sustainable development.
Lessons learnt from the past
show that the implemen tation
of IWRM encounters major
difficulties if most stakeholders
continue to use tradi
tio
nal
planning mechanisms
PROJECTS
Water and subsoil resources
cd0515nb001
• Doel project: monitoren van rijkswateren met onbemande, zelfvarende schepen.
Slag in efficiency, veiligheid, duurzaamheid en flexibiliteit.
• Eerste tests in november 2017 met Engels en Noors testschip. Veilig varen op de Nederlandse Noordzee mogelijk
zonder menselijk ingrijpen.
• Mogelijke vervolgstappen:
- Opstellen juridisch kader voor zelfvarende schepen - Testen in lastige weers- of vaaromstandigheden - Uitbreiden testlocatie naar alle rijkswateren - Verdere integratie Rijkswaterstaat-meetsensoren
met zelfvarend schip
Zelfvarend schip
op de Noordzee
Water quality and quantity, and the ecological status of water bodies, are generally monitored by large vessels and by stationary sensors in a monitoring network. Some of these manned vessels are inflexible, expensive and over-dimensioned. A government-funded reconnaissance study was launched to investigate the options for replacing manned vessels with unmanned platforms. The major benefits of these unmanned platforms are that they can be deployed 24/7, they are cheaper to operate (>90%), and they cut carbon emissions by up to 95%. In addition, by contrast with stationary systems, a range of sensors can be deployed and the platform can conduct monitoring activities in adverse weather conditions that would force a manned vessel to stay in port.
The overall goal of the project is to accelerate the introduction of autonomous multipurpose measurement platforms in the Netherlands and abroad. Geophysical, geochemical and other techniques can be combined in the platform. Accelerating implementation implies not only technical feasibility but also the authorisation of the use of systems of this kind. However, there is no legislation for unmanned/autonomous platforms at present. A nautical safety plan for autonomous vessels was developed by a consortium of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch national shipping company, the Royal Dutch Navy, the Dutch coastguard and the harbour authorities of Den Helder in order to remedy this legislative gap. The safety plan includes scenarios to be tested before permission can be granted to take the crew off the vessel and to sail unmanned. An example of a scenario is a head-on approach of two vessels in which the autonomous vessel is expected to manoeuvre to starboard. In November 2017, two commercial companies demonstrated the capabilities of the vessels in the Dutch part of the North Sea: the vessels passed all the tests in the scenarios as described in the safety plan. The sensor used in this test was a multi-purpose water quality sensor that measured oxygen, turbidity, pH, conductivity, chlorophyll A, blue-green algae and temperature. The coastguard and the navy assessed the performance of the autonomous vessel during the tests and submitted their independent advice to the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.
The collaboration between what is technically possible (for the private sector), what is legally permissible (in policy terms ) and the application of this innovation is unique in the world. The introduction of autonomous multipurpose measurement
platforms that can operate safely and continuously on Dutch and other waterways, measuring and sending the data real-time to users, will have numerous applications and will push field measurements forward to the next stage.
Contact
Marc Verheul, marc.verheul@deltares.nl t +31 (0)6 5756 5066
Further reading:
Verheul (2017) Varende Drones op de Noordzee. Available on https:// www.deltares.nl/en/publications/
AUTONOMOUS MEASURING PLATFORMS
Unmanned vessel during the test in November 2017
Royal Dutch Navy personnel assessing performance in one of the scenarios from the safety plan
