Long-term modeling of the impact of dredging strategies on morpho- and hydrodynamic developments in the Western Scheldt
Dam, G.; Poortman, S.E.; Bliek, A.J.; Plancke, Y. (2013). Long-term modeling of the impact of dredging strategies on morpho- and hydrodynamic developments in the Western Scheldt, in: CEDA 20th World Dredging Congress and Exhibition 2013 (WODCON XX). The Art of Dredging. Brussels, Belgium, 3-7 June 2013. pp. 739-752
The natural morphological developments of the Western Scheldt and the impact of human activities on these developments are investigated using a process-based morphological model called FINEL2d. The historical period of 1965-2002 is simulated in a T0 scenario including all the human activities that have taken place in that period. Besides this T0 scenario two extreme scenarios are modeled for the same period. The T1 scenario is carried out without any human activities from 1965 onwards. In the T2 scenario regular dredging of the navigational channel takes place, but the dredged material is not distributed back into the Western Scheldt like in the T0 scenario. In this way insight is obtained into how human activities have influenced and will influence the tide in and the morphology of the Western Scheldt. By modeling these different sediment strategies it is concluded that the applied strategy has had a large impact on the morphology of the estuary and tide during this period. The channels have deepened and the tidal flats have increased in the 1965-2002 in the model, because of which the hypsometry of the Western Scheldt has probably has become steeper over the last decades. The results also show significant effects on the propagation of the tide in the estuary. Due to the actual human activities over the past decades the tidal range in the estuary has increased by about 0.4m in Antwerp and accelerated the propagation of the tide with approximately 20 minutes. This corresponds to the observed phase shift in Antwerp over the past decades. The extreme scenario in which all dredged material was removed from the estuary shows that the process of increasing tide levels in the estuary may continue in case that the human activities are intensified.
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