EURECCA project funding awarded!

This week we received the news from NWO that our project EURECCA has been awarded funding! Matthieu de Schipper, Julia Hopkins and myself proposed to dedicate a research project to the study of mixed-sand transport (small and large grains) by mixed-energy forcing (waves and tidal currents) at man-made beaches (sand deposits).

What is EURECCA?

EURECCA is an acronym for "Effective Upgrades and REtrofits for Coastal Climate Adaptation". Many flood defenses (dikes, dams and dunes) around the globe are in need of upgrades to protect the hinterland against flooding during extreme storm events. Sandy retrofits, where a sandy beach system is placed in front of an exisiting flood defense, are a novel engineering approach using sediment instead of stones and asphalt to guarantee coastal safety.

Below are some examples of recent sandy retrofits (dotted lines) in varying hydrodynamic environments in the Netherlands.

Much of our understanding of sand deposits, or nourishments, stem from research in coastal areas that are dominated by energetic waves. However, the redistribution of sand and the evolution of different sediment sizes of potential retrofits is not understood in environments which are under the influence of both strong tidal currents and waves (e.g. mixed-energy systems).

The EURECCA project aims to develop robust and quantitative knowledge of mixed-sand transport driven by mixed-energy forcing. The sandy retrofit design evaluation produced by this project will enable market leaders in coastal reinforcement techniques to provide more effective designs for natural reinforcement, ultimately leading to cost reduction and more ecologically beneficial flood defenses.

Study site, activities and team

This project will focus on the recently completed Prins Hendrikzanddijk, a sandy retrofit of a dike on the back-barrier side of the Dutch barrier island of Texel (see aerial photo and satellite image at the top of this article), an area with strong tidal currents and relatively weak wind-driven waves: a typical mixed-energy system.

We plan to perform a number of dedicated large field campaigns at the Prins Hendrikzanddijk to measure the forcing conditions that mobilize sand of different grain sizes. In addition to these measurements, we will apply numerical models (XBeach and Delft3D) to further generalize our findings.

The Departments of Physical Geography (Utrecht University) and Hydraulic Engineering (TU Delft) will each host a PhD candidate who will work in tandem on the project. The research team will work together closely with a diverse group of dedicated end-users: Jan de Nul B.V., Waterproof B.V., Hoogheemraadschap Holllands Noorderkwartier, Deltares, Arcadis, and the Dutch Ministry of Public Works Rijkswaterstaat.