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Content archived on 2024-05-14

Performance of Soft Beach Systems and Nourishment Measures for European Coasts

Objective



The use of shore nourishment and dune restoration for coastal hazards management will likely increase significantly in the European Union over the next decades. It is prudent for coastal management authorities and the European Commission to begin to consider fundamental design, maintenance and performance assessment necessary for objective evaluation of such nourishments. Consistent application of evaluation criteria are necessary to accredit such projects in the identification of coastal hazards (flooding and erosion). The objectives specified in research area B (2) - research task 1 acknowledge this need and the present project directly contribute to the realization of these objectives. More precisely, our objective is to develop a new methodology to predict the medium (several months) and long ( a few decades) term performance of artificial nourishment schemes by introducing reliable and validated numerical modelling tools. These tools will be solid and general enough to be able to deal with a wide variety of field situations from dune restoration to shoreface nourishment including or not supporting measures.
To reach that goal, the three existing sources of knowledge in nearshore oceanography, namely field observations, large-scale physical modelling and numerical models will be used and integrated. Practically, the project will be divided into four topics with specific objectives.
TOPIC A: Overall integration and scientific management of the project. The main results of the projects will be integrated here to provide an update of the design part of existing beach nourishment manuals and recommendations on the use of soft beach systems and supporting measures in coastal management schemes,
TOPIC B: Analysis of field data. An inventory of data and information on existing and on-going nourished sites will be carried out. Well documented datasets will be collected and made available on a number of sites for validation of numerical models.
TOPIC C: Large-scale flume tests experiments. These tests will be performed in the large wave flume in Hannover focusing on dune erosion and the recovery of the beach profile and on bed-load transport thanks to the measurement of the natural radioactivity of heavy minerals included in the sand.
TOPIC D: Development and validation of beach profile and shoreline evolution numerical models. This is the heart of the new methodology. Process-based medium term as well as long-term behaviour oriented models will be developed up to the stage of being applicable to a wide variety of practical situations. The project will take advantage of the considerable knowledge and data gained in the on-going MAST2 projects G8-morphodynamics and NOURTEC.

Call for proposal

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Coordinator

Sogreah Ingenierie SNC
EU contribution
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Address
6,Rue de la Lorraine
38130 Echirolles
France

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Total cost
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Participants (12)