Project description DEENESFRITPL 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. Show the project objective Hide the project objective 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). Fields of science natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsfluid dynamicsnatural sciencescomputer and information sciencescomputational sciencemultiphysics Keywords Sand Mitigation Performance Assessment Arid Environment Modelling Wind Tunnel Computational Simulation Wind Engineering Civil Engineering Aeolian Research Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2019 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2019 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF) Coordinator VON KARMAN INSTITUTE FOR FLUID DYNAMICS Net EU contribution € 166 320,00 Address Waterloose Steenweg, 72 1640 Sint-Genesius-Rode Belgium See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Halle-Vilvoorde Activity type Research Organisations Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 166 320,00