Jobid=619111342263443140 (0.0995)
In dike safety assessment, it is important to understand how failure processes at different scales contribute to flood risk. In the case of BEP, this includes erosion at the pipe tip, continued erosion along the growing pipe, and the transport of sediment under changing hydraulic conditions. These processes are driven by local and regional groundwater flow, which is strongly affected by variations in the shallow subsurface. Existing models often rely on (semi-)empirical rules, such as the Sellmeijer criterion, to predict pipe growth and the critical hydraulic head. However, because the underlying BEP mechanisms are still not fully understood, the main parameters controlling pipe development remain uncertain. As a result, predictions of when failure will occur can vary significantly.
Within Work Package 3, Upscaling BEP models across scales, you will address the following scientific challenge: incorporating BEP mechanisms into continuum-based models in which the interaction between pipe growth at the micro-scale and groundwater flow at the local and regional scale is explicitly represented. You will use an existing concurrent multi-scale modelling framework that combines the finite element method (FEM) and the discrete element method (DEM).
You will work closely with two other PhD candidates who will study how 3D subsurface variability influences BEP behaviour, using both simplified and advanced BEP models within a unified probabilistic framework. This approach makes it possible to combine models with different levels of detail and computational cost, and to use them efficiently for quantifying the risk of dike failure caused by backward erosion piping.
Your profile
Requirements:
Our offer
Deel deze vacature: