Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HyPer SMM (Hybrid Performance Assessment of Sand Mitigation Measures) Reporting period: 2020-07-01 to 2022-06-30 Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project HyPer SMM (Hybrid Performance assessment of Sand Mitigation Measures) is a two-year project coordinated by von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (BE) and supported by the EC through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Individual Fellowship. HyPer SMM provided an innovative, multidisciplinary and intersectoral postdoctoral training thanks to the synergy between a prestigious academic institution and a highly skilled Consulting Company (Optiflow Company, FR). In this framework, HyPer SMM promoted excellence in sand mitigation science and, specifically, the design and implementation of reliable Wind-Sand Tunnel Tests and innovative Wind-Sand Computational Simulations to assess the performance of Sand Mitigation Measures.The engineering interest about windblown sand is dictated by the harmful effects that sand has on a number of structures and infrastructures. Windblown sand effects can lead to several incremental costs in infrastructure management, such as loss of capacity and increased maintenance costs, but also to disastrous events, such as train derailment.Even if the problem was tackled first in the fifties along the Dammam-Riyadh desert railway line, it has emerged as a key scientific, technical and economic issue only in the last ten years. On the one hand, urbanized coastal areas are experiencing increasing windstorm frequency due to climate change. In the worst-case scenario, the frequency and intensity of windstorm in Europe is expected to increase within this century up to +44% and +96%, respectively. This will cause an increment of sand transport events from sandy coasts to anthropic environments. On the other hand, desert regions are more and more hosting new infrastructure megaprojects. The corresponding industrial market is significant. For instance, the Middle East Countries have allocated about USD 260 billion to build 40.000 km of desert railways up to 2030.In order to cope with the effects above, the demand for the design of windblown Sand Mitigation Measures (SMM) solutions has grown in the last decade and it is expected to further increase in the next years. SMM mostly translate into earthworks, porous fences and solid barriers located along the windblown sand path, between the sand source and the infrastructure.With some remarkable exceptions, the rigorous design and performance assessment of SMM are still missing in the scientific literature and technical practice, and they are still based on trial-and-error approach. The abovementioned difficulties are due to multiple issues, such as (i) the multidisciplinary nature of the problem, and the weakness of dialogue between civil engineering and fundamental disciplines, i.e. mathematics, physics and geomorphology, (ii) the inborn multiphysics, coupled and strongly nonlinear phenomena involved in, (iii) the multiscale phenomena, ranging from the sand grain scale to the infrastructure characteristic length. As a result, the SMM performance assessment cannot be achieved in analytical terms, and physical and/or computational experiments are required to replicate both the wind flow, the sand flow and sand surface morphodynamics around SMM.HyPer SMM tackled these problems, and seized the opportunity to:• Innovate the sand mitigation research field, by advancing competences in experimental and numerical approaches to model windblown sand and their coupling in a multidisciplinary hybrid approach to performance assessment of SMM.• Innovate the training of the Experienced Researcher by means of:- A cross-disciplinary training to face the hybrid computational-experimental approach and enhance the scientific maturity, coordination and leadership skills.- An academy-industry intersectoral training that integrates the scientific research of the former and the industrial and commercial aptitude of the latter.• Draw best practices / guidelines to assess SMM performance and the validation of the multiphase WindSand code.• Promote transfer of knowledge:- By providing to the Experienced Researcher new skills and career opportunities, both in academy and industry.- By establishing and fostering new collaboration opportunities for von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics and Optiflow Company. Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far The research activities carried out within HyPer SMM include:• The design, implementation and postprocessing of Wind-Sand Tunnel Tests thanks to the facilities at von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics. In particular, performed activities include:- Wind-Sand Tunnel Tests on flat sand fetch to characterize the multiphase windblown sand transport on flat terrain conditions.- Wind-Sand Tunnel Tests on two different SMM geometries to assess their performance for increasing trapped sand volume.- Post-Processing of Wind-Sand Tunnel Tests measurements through Particle Image and Tracking Velocimetry techniques.• The computational-based performance assessment of Sand Mitigation Measures, jointly with the support of Optiflow Company. In particular, performed activities include:- Tuning of WindSand multiphase code thanks to Wind-Sand Tunnel Tests on flat sand fetch.- Validation of WindSand multiphase code thanks to Wind-Sand Tunnel Tests on Sand Mitigation Measures.- Extrapolation of Wind-Sand Tunnel Test based SMM performance from scale to full scale conditions.The HyPer SMM postdoctoral training program covered all theoretical and technical aspects related to windblown sand modelling and Sand Mitigation Measures performance assessment by means of: research training provided directly by the supervisors and their co-workers; specialized VKI Lecture Series and Research Master courses; intersectoral skills developed during the secondment of the Experienced Researcher to industrial partner Optiflow Company, transferable skills developed through the management of the project, supervision of students and seminars.The research results exploitation and dissemination include:• 2 published Scientific Papers while others are currently in preparation.• 5 talks/poster presentations at International Conferences.• 1 article published on an online magazine.• Organization of client colloquia addressed to promote industrial exploitation. Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) HyPer SMM research allowed to express a great potential for excellent research and development activities, and for their implementation into industrial and socio-economic impacts.HyPer SMM allowed to develop an innovative methodology to develop efficient Sand Mitigation Measure design solutions by cutting the cost with respect to expensive, time-consuming field testing.Furthermore, HyPer SMM directly supported the training of a highly skilled Experienced Researcher able to act at the interface between academy and industry, by coordinating activities in academy and industry, and by promoting the transfer of knowledge between them. This was made possible thanks to the strong and effective synergy developed during the project.The knowledge developed within HyPer SMM has been transferred between von Karman Institute and Optiflow Company but also to different target audiences. On the one hand, project activities have been disseminated to the public by means of communication and outreach activities. On the other hand, the industrial exploitation of the results was promoted thanks to the organization of HyPer SMM one-to-one Client Colloquia with potentially interested clients. Wind-Sand Tunnel Test of flat sand fetch performed at von Karman Institute Wind-Sand Tunnel Tests versus Wind-Sand Computational Simulations Wind-Sand Tunnel Tests on Sand Mitigation Measures performed at von Karman Institute HyPer SMM logo HyPer SMM at the European Researchers' Night
