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Hybrid Performance Assessment of Sand Mitigation Measures

Project description

Novel design and assessment methodology for sand mitigation measures

In desert environments and sandy coastal regions, windblown sand can increase management costs and also cause disasters in civil structures and infrastructures. The recent demand for sand mitigation measures (SMMs) is expected to increase further in the coming years. However, rigorous performance testing of SMMs is still absent in scientific literature and technical practice. This is because the nature of windblown sand makes analytical approaches inapplicable, and current experimental physical and computational approaches don’t meet the needs of infrastructure designers. To address this issue, the EU-funded HyPer SMM project aims to develop an innovative hybrid approach that will serve as a novel design and assessment methodology for SMMs. The approach will combine innovative wind–sand computational simulations and highly reliable wind–sand tunnel testing.

Objective

Civil structures and infrastructures in desert environments and sandy coastal regions are sensitive to windblown sand. Even if the problem was first tackled in the fifties, it has emerged as a key scientific, technical and economic issue in the last decade. Indeed, windblown sand effects can lead to several incremental costs in infrastructure management, and also disastrous events.

The demand for the design of Sand Mitigation Measures (SMM) has grown in the last decade and it is expected to further increase in the next years. However, the rigorous performance assessment of SMMs is still missing in the scientific literature and technical practice. On the one hand, the multiphysics and multiscale nature of the involved phenomena make analytical approaches inapplicable. On the other hand, current experimental physical and computational approaches do not fulfill alone modelling requirements and practical needs of infrastructure designers.

The HyPer SMM project aims at finding a way forward by developing an innovative hybrid approach, as a brand-new design-and-assessment methodology in the field. It combines innovative Wind-Sand Computational Simulations (WSCS) and highly reliable Wind-Sand Tunnel Test (WSTT).

The main scientific and training objectives of the project include:
- the development of highly reliable WSTT to assess SMM performance;
- the extension of WSTT-based SMM performance from scale to full-scale conditions by means of WSCS;
- the drafting of best practices/guidelines to SMM performance assessment;
- enrich Experience Researcher’s (ER) scientific competences on the specific topic;
- enforce ER’s management skills and professional independence.

In order to guarantee the multidisciplinary and intersectoral objectives, the layout of the project envisages the ER hosting at a research center in fluid dynamics (Von Karman Institute, BE) and the ER secondment at a consulting company in computational simulations (Optiflow, FR).

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2019

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Coordinator

VON KARMAN INSTITUTE FOR FLUID DYNAMICS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 166 320,00
Address
Waterloose Steenweg, 72
1640 Sint-Genesius-Rode
Belgium

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Region
Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Halle-Vilvoorde
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 166 320,00
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