Current permits on allowing beach buildings on the beach are in need of an update with respect to the most recent scientific developments in wind-driven sediment transport around buildings on the beach. Rijkswaterstaat and the different coastal Waterboards currently have different permits and are looking to unify these. In doing so, they want to include recent scientific knowledge (e.g. Zuiderwijk, 2023 and Pourteimouri, 2023), in making the best choices for updated permits. In this project you will compare the different permits using recent numerical modelling tools. Regulations within these permits describe for example minimal distance of a beach building from the dune foot, minimal pole height, or limited time (summer season) versus permanent (year-round) building placement.
Foreseen aspects withing this research are: 1) A literature research on the recent advancements on wind-driven sediment transport around beach buildings. 2) Learning about the different current permits that are currently in place. 3) Creating representative building-dune configurations that represent the different regulations within the permits as adequate as possible. 4) Performing model runs in OpenFoam and analysing the performance of the different aspects of the various permits.
Key for assessing model results will be the desired effect of beach-building configuration on the dune behind. This may be uniform along the coast or may differ per coastal region.
This is all-in-all a challenging MSc assignment, with a nice combination of numerical modelling and practical present-day coastal management permits.
For questions related to this project, please contact Geert Campmans (g.h.p.campmans@utwente.nl)
References
- Zuiderwijk, N.L., Modelling the impact of positioning and pole height of a row of beach buildings on dune morphology, MSc thesis, WEM, University of Twente, 2023 https://www.utwente.nl/en/et/cem/education/finished-msc-assignments/finished_graduation_projects/wem-msc-thesis/2023/zuiderwijk.pdf
- Pourteimouri, P., The influence of characteristics, orientation and positioning of beach buildings on airflow and aeolian sediment transport patterns in the surrounding area, PhD thesis, WEM, University of Twente, 2023. https://research.utwente.nl/en/publications/modelling-the-influence-of-characteristics-orientation-and-positi
Supervision
Are you interested in this assignment? Contact the Master thesis coordinator.
