Goal of the Project
The aim of the PhD project is to advance our understanding of compound floods, e.g., flood events generated by multiple physical drivers which might not be extremes if taken in isolation, generated in confluences in diverse climate regions and to develop site-specific flood risk reduction strategies for the Meuse-Geul confluence.
To achieve this, three main objectives are envisioned:
- OBJ1: Classification of confluences under extreme climate conditions in different climate regions;
- OBJ2: Design risk reduction strategies specifically for the Meuse-Geul confluence;
- OBJ3: Characterizing physical drivers of compound floods in estuary regions.
Schematic overview of the Meuse-Geul confluence
Scientific Motivation
Within the program Future FRM Tech, this project aims to increase the flood resilience of river networks via a novel technical solution informed by an enhanced understanding of the behaviour of critical river nodes such as confluences.
An accurate flood frequency analysis in river confluences is extremely important for the design of flood protection systems, such as levees, flood walls, weirs, and flood risk reduction strategies. Traditional methods for estimation of extreme events based on univariate analysis cannot be applied in confluences where the flood hazard is determined by the discharge of the main river, the tributaries, and their interactions (Bender et al., 2016). Moreover, univariate analysis in confluences might not be possible for the lack of gauges downstream (Kao and Chang., 2012). In this context, characterizing the behaviour of confluences allows to use of discharge data of upstream gauges to assess the discharge downstream. Bender et al., 2016 showed that the extreme flooding events can be generated even if the maximum discharge of main river and tributary don’t coincide, so it is important to analyse the system taking into account not only the maximum values but also their interactions.
Simultaneously, a physical-based numerical model of the Meuse-Geul confluence that consider all the geomorphological and hydrological parameters is significantly important for the generation of inundation maps in the region of interest. After that, possible interventions for the reduction of flood risk will be evaluated based on the compound flooding scenarios.
Case Study
Firstly a global analysis on river confluences will be implemented to classify the different types of them. Then the results will be specialized on Geul-Meuse confluence basin.
Expected Outcomes
During the PhD research period it is expected to be produced 2 published journal papers, covering the topics 1,2 and the production of material for a third one.
Additionally, as a part of the PhD the researcher will participate in conferences to present part of his research, where he has a great opportunity to learn more about the current research on the topic of his interest and to receive important feedback for his work.
Involved Endusers
Last modified: 20/08/2024
Contributing researchers
Faidon Diakomopoulos
TU Delft
Project outputs
FRM in focus: video
The Future FRM Tech programme develops flood resilient landscapes for rivers and estuaries as well as technical solutions for water barriers. Watch the video to get to know more about the project
29/04/2021 by Prof. dr. ir. Bas Jonkman
Bevat: Video & Audio
