Research & Projects
Risk-based design of land reclamation: a polder terminal
The concept of the Polder Terminal was developed by Royal HaskoningDHV as an alternative to a conventional terminal: where quay wall and terminal yard are raised to a level well above sea level to insure safety against inundation. For the Polder Terminal only the quay wall would be raised well above sea level, the terminal yard would lie at or below the outside water level making a polder.
Kasper worked as a graduate intern for Royal HaskoningDHV to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of the Polder Terminal. He used a risk-based approach to determine the optimal quay wall and polder levels of a Polder Terminal and compared these to the optimal terminal level for a conventional terminal. Currently he is working on a journal paper on the Polder Terminal.
Effectiveness of emergency measures for flood prevention
Floods in the summer of 2013 in Central Europe demonstrated once again that floods account for a large part of damage and loss of life caused by natural disasters. During flood threats emergency measures, such as sand bags and big bags, are often applied to strengthen the flood defences and attempt to prevent breaches. Although these measures are often used there is limited insight in the actual reliability of the measures and their effectiveness in increasing the safety of the flood defences.
In a research project for the Stowa Kasper investigated the reliability and effectiveness of emergency measures for flood prevention. Through an extensive risk analysis the failure probability of a system of emergency measures was determined and its effect on the safety of a dike ring. During the project the TU Delft collaborated, among others, with Waterschap Groot Salland, Deltares and Rijkswaterstaat.
Flood risk reduction Galveston Bay, Texas
The Galveston Bay area is at significant risk from hurricane-induced flooding. Over the past years the concept of the Coastal Spine (also named Ike Dike) has been developed as a solution to reduce flood risks for the region. The main aim of the coastal spine is to limit the inflow of hurricane surge into the Galveston Bay and thus protect Houston, Galveston and other communities around the bay. Kasper has worked on several technical reports for the design of the coastal spine.
Regional flood defences
Currently, Kasper is involved in a ‘pilot’ project to determine the flood risk of the regional, or secondary, flood defenses in the Netherlands. The aim is to investigate whether or not the flood risk approach developed for the primary flood defences in the Netherlands can be applied to the regional flood defence systems.
Flood Proof Holland
Flood Proof Holland is a testsite on the campus of the TU Delft where new innovations in the field of flood defenses are demonstrated and tested regularly. Together with students, researchers and starting companies tests are done with innovative temporary flood defenses (emergency measures). For more information: www.floodproofholland.nl
Other
Besides these projects Kasper is involved in different projects in the field of flood defenses and flood risk for the hydraulic engineering section of the faculty of Civil Engineering at the TU Delft.