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Novel strategies in coastal protection are needed to cope with climate change-induced sea level rise. They aim at the sustainable development of coastal areas in light of an intensification and land use changes. A promising approach is the design of nature-based solutions (NbS), complementing the safety levels of technical infrastructures. However, NbS lack a widespread and large-scale implementation. To address this deficit, co-design concepts are needed that combine experiences from science and practice. This work presents and discusses the approach of a coast-specific real-world laboratory (RwL) addressing the inclusive design of ecosystem-based coastal protection. Strategies of RwLs are applied for the first time in a coastal context along the North Sea coastline in Germany. We found the concept of RwLs suitable for coastal transdisciplinary research, although adaptions in the spatial reference level or flexibility in location and time of experimentation are necessary. A profound actor analysis is indispensable to specify participatory processes and interaction levels. A criteria-based cooperative selection of RwL sites helps to reveal and solve conflicting interests to achieve trust between science and practice. Addressing site-specific characteristics and practitioners’ needs, our coastal RwL provides a mutual learning space to develop and test NbS to complement technical coastal protection.

Urban flooding is a major challenge for many megacities in low-elevation coastal zones (LECZs), especially in Southeast Asia. In these regions, the effects of environmental stressors overlap with rapid urbanization, which significantly aggravates the hazard potential. Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in southern Vietnam is a prime example of this set of problems and therefore a suitable case study to apply the concept of low-regret disaster risk adaptation as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In order to explore and evaluate potential options of hazard mitigation, a hydro-numerical model was employed to scrutinize the effectiveness of two adaptation strategies: (1) a classic flood protection scheme including a large-scale ring dike as currently constructed in HCMC and (2) the widespread installation of small-scale rainwater detention as envisioned in the framework of the Chinese Sponge City Program (SCP). A third adaptation scenario (3) assesses the combination of both approaches (1) and (2). From a hydrological point of view, the reduction in various flood intensity proxies that were computed within this study suggests that large-scale flood protection is comparable but slightly more effective than small-scale rainwater storage: for instance, the two adaptation options could reduce the normalized flood severity index (INFS), which is a measure combining flood depth and duration, by 17.9 % and 17.7 %, respectively. The number of flood-prone manufacturing firms that would be protected after adaptation, in turn, is nearly 2 times higher for the ring dike than for the Sponge City approach. However, the numerical results also reveal that both response options can be implemented in parallel, not only without reducing their individual effectiveness but also complementarily with considerable added value. Additionally, from a governance perspective, decentralized rainwater storage conforms ideally to the low-regret paradigm: while the existing large-scale ring dike depends on a binary commitment (to build or not to build), decentralized small- and micro-scale solutions can be implemented gradually (for example through targeted subsidies) and add technical redundancy to the overall system. In the end, both strategies are highly complementary in their spatial and temporal reduction in flood intensity. Local decision-makers may hence specifically seek combined strategies, adding to singular approaches, and design multi-faceted adaptation pathways in order to successfully prepare for a deeply uncertain future.

Hydro-numerical models offer an increasingly important tool to determine the adequacy and evaluate the effectiveness of potential flood protection measures. However, a significant obstacle in setting up hydro-numerical and associated flood damage models is the tedious and oftentimes prohibitively costly process of acquiring reliable input data, which particularly applies to coastal megacities in developing countries and emerging economies. To address this problem, this paper takes the example of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and proposes a new and comprehensive methodology for acquiring, processing, and applying the necessary open-access data (topography, bathymetry, tidal, river flow, and precipitation time series) to set up an urban surface run-off model. As a key novelty of the paper, a normalized flood severity index (NFSI) that combines flood depth and duration is proposed. The index serves as an indicator that helps uncover urban inundation hotspots with severe damage potential, drawing attention to specific districts or boroughs with special adaptation needs or emergency response measures. The approach is validated by comparison with more than 300 locally reported flood samples, which correspond to NFSI-processed inundation hotspots in over 73 % of all cases. These findings corroborate the robustness of the proposed index, which may significantly enhance the interpretation and trustworthiness of hydro-numerical assessments in the future. The proposed approach and developed indicators are generic and may be replicated and adopted in other coastal megacities.

Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) is an optical method typically applied to measure two- and three-dimensional fluid flows. In combination with a synchronized laser or strobe light, a high-resolution camera is used to observe the movement of tracer particles within a water volume. Advancing the concept of cross-correlation, modern PIV algorithms analyze the obtained images for most probable displacements in pre-defined interrogation areas and, in doing so, are able to reveal detailed flow patterns and velocities. Although this methodology is widely applied to study turbulent flows and even track grain-scale sediment transport, hardly any investigation is known that makes use of one of the more sophisticated PIV tools to quantify the dynamics of major geomorphological features such as subaqueous dunes.In order to test its applicability in morphodynamic analyses, we used a prominent PIV software for interpreting a long-term bathymetric time series recorded by multibeam echo-sounding (MBES). The data set shows a field of compound dunes in the Jade tidal inlet channel well-documented in 100 monthly fairway surveys. In contrast to conventional PIV settings, observed displacements in the assessed greyscale surface plots do not represent the movement of individual particles but migration of complete morphological features across the seafloor. Accordingly, this methodology results in a reduction of correlation clarity, which we compensated by two types of pre-processing. On the one hand, PIV analyses were conducted for the different derivatives of the digital terrain model comprising slope, curvature and variability. On the other hand, reports about the physical composition of primary and secondary dunes were used to separate the inherent length scales, which are expected to show different migration rates. Depending on these filtering techniques, preliminary results are in promising agreement with previous findings, thus, illustrating the versatility of the PIV concept and its potential for two-dimensional morphodynamic analyses. Based on a systematic comparison of the achieved correlation qualities, we now aim at deriving best practices for applying PIV algorithms to understand the dynamic behaviour of tidal compound dunes.

Seagrass surrogates are commonly used to mimic the behaviour of seagrasses exposed to currents and their effects on flow fields. The interaction is highly dependent on the chosen mechanic and geometric properties of the surrogates and needs to be understood in order to design artificial meadows. The interaction of single surrogates in unidirectional flow fields is studied by means of physical modelling. Surrogates made of plastic materials with different flexural rigidities, buoyancies and geometries are exposed to varying flow velocities. The instantaneous velocity fields in the vicinity and wake of the surrogates are measured by stereoscopic Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). All employed surrogates disrupt and interact with the flow field by changing their posture. An empirical relation is derived between the flexural rigidity, buoyancy and characteristic diameter of the surrogates and the imposed differences in the attenuation ratio of flow velocities. Further, the approaching flow velocity and distance behind the surrogate influence the estimated attenuation. The vortex shedding frequency imposed by artificial seagrass is lower than frequencies determined for infinite, rigid cylindrical structures. Three main characterizing properties: the modulus of elasticity, buoyancy and cross-sectional dimensions need to be taken into account for design of artificial seagrass meadows. Our findings advance knowledge of fluid-structure interactions of flexible materials and help to progress proper design of artificial seagrass meadows.

Seagrasses are essential marine ecosystems for which restoration has proven challenging due to increased hydrodynamic stress. This study aims to analyze the flow alteration induced by an artificial seagrass (ASG) meadow by characterizing its wake effect through a shelter distance and thus yield guidance for seagrass restoration projects. Here, we define shelter distance as the longitudinal extent behind a meadow, with respect to the flow direction, where seagrass is protected and can hence grow successfully. Flume experiments were conducted for submerged meadows with three different lengths at constant canopy height, shoot density and water depth, and three different cross-section-averaged longitudinal flow velocities measured with state-of-the-art Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). For the tested meadow morphology and hydrodynamic conditions, meadow length played a less important role regarding shelter distance, while incident flow velocity and effective canopy height governed the wake effect. Incident velocities 2 m behind the meadow, whereas higher velocities led to a reduced shelter distance ranging from 20-40 cm. ASG additionally produced an upwelling effect on the vertical distribution of the velocity profile observed along the wake, regardless of meadow length and incident velocity. Our results suggest that restoration projects should aim for areas of low flow, where currents induced by tidal or wind waves are less pronounced in order to activate larger shelter distances.

The integrity of a sea dike, especially its surface soil and biological revetment, is indispensable for coastal protection, as a dike breach would result in damages and economic losses. Estimates of the condition of a sea dike are typically established by on-site inspections and expert judgement at regular intervals. These status assessments of the protection level of the sea dike evaluate grass coverage and animal burrows, since structural inconsistencies deter the overall safety levels on coastal protection. In laboratory settings, erosion resistance of a sea dike is often determined by means of assessing critical shear stress induced by wave-run up and overtopping. Whereby the grain size distribution and soil aggregate formation on the one hand and the root penetration of the sample on the other are significant factors influencing critical shear stress and therefore erosion resistance. Drone-/UAV-based remote sensing can be used to easily determine the degree of coverage of the dike revetment via green value detection. Thermal spectroscopy is also already used in agriculture to detect the state of health of plants at an early stage, for example due to a shortage of water. In addition, plants can be classified using hyperspectral imaging data. We aim to derive transfer functions correlating ground truthing data, drawn from coastal real world- and a full scale laboratory dike, with plant species, its characteristic taxonomic traits and assessed top soil parameters. This approach bears the advantage of yielding an erosion-resistance estimate of the dike cover based on the plant classification using UAV-derived hyperspectral information. Furthermore, taxonomic species are sought to be paired with their respective, site specific, root architecture. Soil parameters such as nutrient availability and humidity will be observed and integrated into the approach, as they bear an impact on subterranean vegetation growth in that plants with lower nutrient availability develop a higher root network (high root length density [cm/cm³]). Finally, grazing livestock on the dike impacts the root system and soil structure as well and both aspects will be investigated comparing mowed against grazed areas as preliminary results show a dike cover void of grazing livestock exhibits a higher root shoot ratio than one with grazing. We hypothesize that classifying plants based on optical, hyperspectral UAV-derived data and the knowledge about the composition of the subsoil, the correlation of plant-specific root architecture and root growth with nutrient availability and agricultural maintenance could provide valuable information about erosion resistance of the dike cover to support dike inspection on an objective basis.

Subaqueous bedforms are a fascinating morphological feature that concerns natural scientists and engineers alike. Under certain conditions, the different scales of these natural seafloor patterns merge into compound dunes consisting of large-scale primary and superimposing secondary bedforms. When it comes to the measuring of these composites, however, scholarly opinion varies depending on the investigator’s perspective. Specifically, compound dunes can either be interpreted as a superposition of their respective constituents, whose individual heights are measured independently after mathematical disintegration, or as one coherent bedform with readily measurable extents. Both methodologies, undoubtedly, have fully legitimate scopes of application, but little is written about the actual discrepancy that can result from signal pre-processing or differing geometric height definitions.We experienced this problem when recently validating a method for the decomposition of compound dunes by comparison with three alternative approaches, of which two relied on detrending the bed elevation profiles before examination, whereas the third approach (similar to the newly proposed one) assessed unfiltered profiles. Although all tools were applied to the same bathymetric raw data, the statistical values of obtained dune dimensions diverged significantly. Even between approaches that generally showed comparable mean dune lengths, the corresponding height values differed by a factor of 2 or so. These results suggest that detrending or band-pass filtering of bed elevation profiles, as it is commonly applied before dune identification, leads to a systematic underestimation of profile amplitudes and thus dune heights. We therefore recommend refraining from these pre-processing steps in all cases where unambiguous absolute heights are needed. Dune identification from unfiltered bed elevation profiles, in return, necessitates that dune dimensions are calculated in consideration of the inherent inclinations. When analyzing the respective behavior of primary and secondary bedforms and their complex interplay, however, mathematical disintegration is the method of choice and, accordingly, dune height remains a matter of perspective.

Underwater dunes are a morphological feature that are explored by marine scientists and coastal engineers alike. This study presents new methodologies in order to simplify bedform identification and morphodynamic analyses. Specifically, subaqueous compound dunes are decomposed with a simple yet extensive tracking algorithm, which relies on a repeated evaluation of unfiltered bed elevation profiles according to five predefined length classes. In a second step, morphological trends are assessed in the form of bed migration rates, bed slope asymmetries and net sediment changes, in which all parameters are referred to equidistant sections of the examined fairway stretch. This integrated approach not only avoids the challenges in weighting the varying size and abundance of dunes of different scales but also ensures comparability between dune-specific and areal parameters, which significantly improves the interpretation of the morphological setting as a whole. The developed methods are applied to the Outer Jade fairway, an anthropogenically influenced and regularly maintained waterway in the German Bight, and allow scrutiny of spatio-temporal trends in this region. Based on a unique data set of 100 sequential high-quality echo-sounding surveys, various types of bedforms are identified, comprising large-scale primary as well as superimposing secondary dunes that are assumed to interfere with each other. Temporal trends show a long-term rise of the troughs of major bedforms and constant maximum crest elevations near the official maintenance depth, which matches the observed long-term aggradation of sediments. The spatial distribution of integrated morphodynamic parameters reflects a previously described zone of primary dune convergence and facilitates the precise localization of this geophysical singularity. The presented findings both confirm the robustness of the proposed methodologies and, in return, enhance the understanding of morphological processes in the Outer Jade. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. © 2020 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd

The tidally influenced shipyard Elsflether Werft, Germany, has experienced a large increase in siltation and short periods of refilling since the 2000s. Its navigational depth was reduced by over 2 m in 2017 and by 0.5 m within only 4 months in 2014. A comprehensive field study was conducted in 2016 employing a time-lapse camera, multiparameter probes, sediment traps, vessel-based measurements, and unmanned aerial observations. Measurements show a strong shear flow along the dock entrance, as well as distinct turbidity signal spikes during regular and neap tides, which are drowned during spring tides. Deploying an unmanned aerial system (UAS), sediment plumes entering the dock were observed. Introducing a biodegradable tracer into the dock, a vortex structure was monitored by the UAS and orthophoto sequences processed by particle image velocimetry yielding time-averaged surface flow patterns and magnitudes, which correlate well with other measurements. Contextual data revealed a cross-sectional widening and river-bed geometry changes, which indicate increased siltation rates attributable to a retention basin effect.

The delta of the Mekong River in Vietnam has been heavily impacted by anthropogenic stresses in recent years, such as upstream dam construction and sand mining within the main and distributary channels, leading to riverbank and coastal erosion. Intensive bathymetric surveys, conducted within the Tien River branch during the dry and wet season 2018, reveal a high magnitude of sand mining activities. For the year 2018, an analysis of bathymetric maps and the local refilling processes leads to an estimated sand extraction volume of 4.64 $$\pm $$± 0.31 Mm$${}^{3}$$3/yr in the study area, which covered around 20 km. Reported statistics of sand mining for all of the Mekong’s channels within the delta, which have a cumulative length of several hundred kilometres, are 17.77 Mm$${}^{3}$$3/yr for this period. Results from this study highlight that these statistics are likely too conservative. It is also shown that natural sediment supplies from upper reaches of the Mekong are insufficient to compensate for the loss of extracted bed aggregates, illustrating the non-sustainable nature of the local sand mining practices.

Migration of nearshore sandbars results from nonlinear interacting hydro- and morphodynamic processes in the surf zone of wave dominated sandy shorelines. To gain new insights in the largely varying temporal effects of shoreface nourishments within these areas, the principle component analysis is applied to sixteen data sets with i) natural sandbar migration on different timescales and ii) interfering shoreface nourishments. The statistical methodology is able to separate the non-stationary effects of shoreface nourishments from the natural stationary migration of the sandbars. Depending on other long-term morphodynamic changes and nourishment interactions in the data, the duration of these interferences (the nourishment lifetimes) can be quantified. Relating these nourishment lifetimes ( L n ) with respect to the bar cycle return periods ( T r ) of these areas (e.g. the relative nourishment lifetime) of twenty-one shoreface nourishments with several design parameters, and parameters of the sandbar system in which they were placed, remained inconclusive. A negative exponential fit with the bar cycle return period itself was the most significant ( r 2 = 0.41). Assuming a linear system of the parameters increases the predictive capability ( r 2 = 0.67). The most influential parameters in this relation are the nourishment concentration (+), the nourishment depth (+), the concentration of the migrating sandbars (−) and the bar cycle return period (−), thereby indicating the prominent roles of both nourishment design and natural sandbar system in the inter-site variability of shoreface nourishment lifetimes.

The flow around tapered cylinders can act as basic models for numerous bluff body flows with a spanwise variation of either the body shape or the inflow conditions. The well-known vortex street is influenced by strong three-dimensional effects from the spanwise variation of the shedding frequency, namely oblique vortex shedding and vortex dislocations. Stereo-PIV was chosen to study these phenomena, since it allows analyzing planes with the full three-component, instantaneous velocity fields and local, time-dependent variations in the same setting. Hence, detailed aspects of the vortex dislocation phenomenon are presented. Single vortex dislocation events are presented through the local variation of the three measured velocity components u, v and w. Longer time-series reveal both period and location of these dislocation events, as well as quantity and sizes of the cells of constant shedding velocity in between them. The influence of the Reynolds number and the cylinder aspect ratio on the vortex cells could be shown. The analysis of the vortex shedding behavior shows good agreement with previously published results. At the same time, the applied PIV technique provides more spatial information than point-based measurements and offers insight into a Reynolds number range that is currently out of reach of Direct Numerical Simulations.

The growing pressure on the coastal ecosystem, e.g. through fisheries, tourism or maritime traffic demands the careful balancing of activities and developments in the coastal zone. Strategies and planning tools like Integrated Coastal Zone Management (UNEP/MAP/PAP, 2008) or the ecosystem approach (which is planned to be implemented in the EU through the Marine Strategy Framework Directive, European Commission, 2008) aim at a holistic, environmentally friendly and sustainable development of the world’s coastlines. Especially in view of rising sea levels, coastal protection becomes crucial for many densely populated coastlines. For the past few decades beach nourishments have been carried out in many coastal regions as “environmentally friendly” alternative to hard coastal protection structures, such as groins, revetments or breakwaters (Hamm et al, 2002). However, the extraction, transport and deposition of sediment can have (long-term) impacts on the environment, which are often not completely understood. Subsequently, these impacts cannot be fully taken into account in national and local nourishment practice, leading to an insufficient implementation of the ecosystem approach.

This paper present results from numerical simulations and laboratory experiments investigating the flow around a riser with fairings at Reynolds number of 5000. We present fully resolved direct numerical simulations (DNS), large eddy simulations (LES) and compare the results with flowfields obtained from particle image velocimetry (PIV) experiments in a circulating water tunnel. The DNS and LES results do agree very well on surface integral quantities such as drag and lift force, but there are discrepancies in first order statistical flow parameters such as recirculation length. This indicate that a comparison of force coefficients is not sufficient to validate this type of bluff body wake flows. Comparing the simulation data with the experimental PIV data, also reveals significant discrepancies in the mean flow field, although the Strouhal number agrees between DNS and PIV results.Copyright © 2015 by ASME

This paper reports calculations of three dimensional (3D) unsteady cross flow over two ship sections in close proximity and compares the results with measurements. The ship sections have different breadth and draft, and represent typical situations in a ship-to-ship marine operation in a cross current. The behavior of the vortex-shedding around the two different ship hull sections is investigated numerically by CFD methods and experiments. For the two sections, simulations are done for several Reynolds numbers by using the dynamic Smagorinsky Large Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model. Finally the cross flow past the ship sections in side-by-side position is simulated and vortex interaction between the sections is found by using the software (Ansys) FLUENT. The numerical predictions are compared with PIV results taken in a circulating water tunnel.Copyright © 2014 by ASME

Traditionally, it has often been assumed that the flow conditions in a moonpool are only moderately altered when an object is introduced therein. Moreover, the hydrodynamic forces acting on the object has typically been estimated by Morison’s equation for small volume structures, using the fluid kinematics of the empty moonpool as a basis and applying correction factors for the confined flow conditions, as for an object in a tube or a channel. To investigate the validity of the traditional approach, an experimental study on the forces acting on objects in a moonpool was performed at NTNU/MARINTEK in Trondheim, Norway in 2013. The experiments were done using a simplified 2-dimensional moonpool model which was given a forced heave motion. Two objects, both with square cross sections but of different sizes, were put inside the moonpool one at the time. The resulting wave elevations inside the moonpool and the forces acting on the objects were recorded and analyzed. To get a deeper understanding of the flow characteristics in the moonpool, PIV measurements were used to obtain the fluid velocity fields. The experiments revealed that even moderately sized objects (relative to the size of the moonpool) change the fluid motions in the moonpool to a large extent; the overall wave elevation amplitude is strongly reduced and the resonance period is altered. A consequence of this is that there is a large discrepancy between the hydrodynamic forces acting on the objects measured in the experiments and the forces calculated using the traditional approach. The PIV results showed the formation of vortices at the inlet of the moonpool and at the edges of the objects, which is the main source of non-linear damping of the wave elevation inside a moonpool.

In hydrodynamic model testing, the choice of the scaling factor is often a compromise between the size of the facility and close matching of the characteristic numbers such as Reynolds and Froude. When combining the two aspects into model testing of offshore floating wind turbines, limitations on the size of the model test facilities apply and it is not possible to use both Froude and Reynolds number scaling effects at the same time. To investigate Reynolds number similarity, two wing geometries, a NACA 0012 and a NREL S825 were manufactured in several sizes and tested at identical Reynolds numbers. The wakes behind the airfoils were measured using Particle Image Velocimetry. One would expect to obtain similar results, but differences in the wake profiles were observed. Understanding the mechanisms involved are important as it then enables model building techniques to be improved, and thus make model testing more effective.Copyright © 2013 by ASME

The present experimental investigation focuses on the flow structure around short free end cylinders with an aspect ratio of L/D = 3 at a Reynolds number of Re = 5000. Cylinders with varying degrees of inclination and porosity were tested in a towing tank, acting as models for fish farm cages. According to studies of fish cages at commercial Norwegian fish farms, the inclination angle of the structure change up to 25 degrees from the vertical when exposed to a current. Cylinders with porosities of 0% and 75% were tested, the latter representing fish cage netting with fouling. To visualize the flow around the cylinders, 2- and 3-Component (2C and 3C) Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used. The effects of inclination and porosity on the three-dimensional flow field will be described and discussed.Copyright © 2008 by ASME

Measurements of instantaneous velocity fields in the separated flow downstream of a backward-facing step in a rotating channel are presented for the first time. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements were made for 13 different rotation numbers Ro at a bulk flow Reynolds number of about 5600. The expansion ratio 2:1 was the same as in the flow visualization study by Rothe and Johnston [ASME J. Fluids Eng. 101, 117 (1979)] which covered about the same range of Ro. The measured mean flow pattern exhibited substantial variations with the rate of system rotation. In particular, the length of the primary separation bubble decreased monotonically with increasing anti-cyclonic rotation and increased with increasing rate of cyclonic rotation, in keeping with the earlier observations. At the highest anti-cyclonic rotation rate, the flow field also separated from the planar wall where the shear layer flow was subjected to cyclonic rotation. The PIV data for the in-plane components of the Reynolds stress tenso...

The decades of collected monitoring data of coastal profiles in combination with the decades of experience with sand nourishments in the Wadden Sea, forms an invaluable basis to study the inter-site efficiency of sand nourishment design. However, a systematic data-driven study of this type needs to be applicable for the inter-site varying (i) nourishment design strategies, (ii) coastal monitoring data sets and (iii) natural morphodynamics of the shorelines, respectively. This study introduces a four-step method able to systematically classify the influence of individual nourishment design parameters on the nourishment lifetime (i.e. the period of influence on the natural dynamics of a coastal profile). With the non-linear and adaptive principle component analysis (PCA) method, nourishment lifetimes of beach- and shoreface nourishments are extracted from data sets that describe different natural morphodynamics. Based on an application of the method to a limited number of nourishments placed in two coastal areas in the Netherlands (Ameland) and Germany (Sylt), increasing nourishment concentration, alongshore nourishment length and absolute nourishment peak elevation seem to increase the lifetime of beach- and shoreface nourishments. Nourishment lifetimes at profile more downstream seem to decrease for beach nourishments, but increase for shoreface nourishments. The method supports inclusion of additional coastal profiles and parameters related to the nourishment design, natural morphodynamics of the coastal profile and hydrodynamic forcing, to quantify nourishment design influences on nourishment lifetimes at different locations.