Damme, M. van (Myron)

Profile

Myron van Damme is a Senior Technical Advisor at Rijkswaterstaat WVL and a member of the ICOLD working group on overtopping erosion. Previously, he worked as a Postdoc at Delft University of Technology and as a Dam breach modelling specialist at HR Wallingford. Also, he is a DPhil graduate from the University of Oxford.

Research

Myron's key interest lies with the development of accurate, process-based methods for describing breach initiation and formation in levees. Due to the high hydraulic stresses involved, the development of empirical relations has been challenging. For this reason, he believes that the development of process-based methods could be beneficial. This requires a thorough study to the interaction between water and soil, which has been the focus of his study in this field.

(Key) Publications

• Van Damme, M. (2020) Detachment of dilatant soil due to high hydraulic shear stresses explained, Journal of Hydraulic Research

• Van Damme, M. (2020) An analytical process-based approach to predicting breach width in levees constructed from dilatant soils, Natural Hazards, 101, 59-85

• Van Damme, M. (2018) Evaluating the impact of the covariance of the friction and potential gradient on describing the infiltration process, Transport in Porous Media, 125, pp 590-608

• Ponsioen, L. Van Damme, M. Hofland, B. Peeters, P. (2019) Relating grass failure on the landside slope to wave overtopping induced excess normal stresses, Coastal Engineering, 148, 49-56