Hydraulic Engineering

Hydraulic Engineering

Hydraulic Engineering

Hydraulic Engineering

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Hydraulic Engineering

Welcome to the website of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences of Delft University of Technology.

We have designed this website to inform and facilitate current students, prospective students, alumni, scientists, practitioners, media, colleagues and our staff on our field of focus. Our homepage offers access to section-related information that we control and update, to our direct "Delft" environment and it offers a login to our staff.

Sections

Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk

Coastal Engineering

Rivers and Ports

Offshore Engineering

Environmental Fluid Mechanics

Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory

News

05 November 2024

How storm surge barriers can keep the Netherlands safe and liveable

How storm surge barriers can keep the Netherlands safe and liveable

A safe and liveable delta, who doesn't go for that? Storm surge barriers play a crucial role in this. Yet there are many choices to be made in the short term to keep the storm surge barriers in a good condition, to eventually cope with rising sea levels in the longer term. A new project receives funding from NWO for five years to explore the best routes to a liveable delta.

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24 October 2024

Vidi grant: Model for floating solar farms

Vidi grant: Model for floating solar farms

Oriol Colomés Gené is awarded a NWO Vidi grant to work on a first digital ocean to assess floating solar farms. The model will enable researchers to study the interactions between the waves, wind and floating solar platforms. Understanding the impact opens doors to work on improving the efficiency of energy production.

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19 September 2024

Unusual waves grow way beyond known limits

Unusual waves grow way beyond known limits
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Agenda

Sweet solutions to a salty problem

Some sixty kilometres, all the way up to Gouda, that’s how far inland the Rotterdam Waterway has been carrying salty North Sea water over the last few years. Salt intrusion in Dutch rivers is a growing problem for the country’s drinking water supply and agriculture, not only in the Dutch delta but in deltas worldwide. Julie Pietrzak is trying to find better ways of predicting and combating the problem.

Counting grains of sand to understand coastal dunes

The Dutch coastline is continually changing. Coastal engineer Sierd de Vries is using small ventilators, home-made wind tunnels, drones, jet skis and laser scanners to gain an insight into the development of coastal areas and dune formation. He can often be found sitting close to the Sand Motor counting grains of sand. It’s all in aid of providing more accurate predictions of the long-term changes affecting the coastal landscape.

Delft model protects wind turbines from risks posed by sea ice

Researcher Hayo Hendrikse (CEG) has developed a new model that gives accurate calculations of the effects of sea ice on offshore structures, such as wind turbines and oil and gas platforms. It turns out that ice causes less wear and tear in these structures than was previously assumed. Thanks to a successful partnership with Siemens Gamesa, Hendrikse's model is now being used in the construction of new offshore wind farms.

Into the mud to help nature

Intertidal flats: you might know them from the Wadden Sea area, but they can also be found in the south-western region of the Netherlands. An intertidal flat is an area that is underwater at high tide and above water at low tide, explains De Vet. “The water can rise or fall by five metres within six hours. At low tide, this creates small islands and strips along the coast (tidal flats)”. Intertidal flats are of great ecological value. The lugworms, cockles and crabs living in these areas make them an important pit stop for migratory birds.

Can sandbanks save mangrove forests?

Waking up early and going into the field on a small fishermen's boat, while the sun is rising behind volcano tops. That's how days started for PhD student Silke Tas during her two month fieldwork in Indonesia. The rest of her days were less idyllic: they consisted mostly of treading through the mud to get the right measurements for her research. She studies the workings of coastal sandbanks that give a chance to mangrove forests to restore, so that the forests can, in turn, prevent coast erosion.

Waiting for the perfect storm

For months hydraulic engineer Patrick Oosterlo has been waiting for a heavy storm. One that can truly test his equipment that was installed in and on a dike on the coast of the eastern Wadden Sea. He needs high waves and strong winds to decide: is this dike high enough?

Stories of Science

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