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Designing a dike using a semi-probabilistic design method

Daamen, E. (2016) Designing a dike using a semi-probabilistic design method.

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Abstract:KEMA Laboratories is located near the Lower Rhine in Arnhem. For a future expansion all risks have been identified. KEMA Laboratories is located near the Lower Rhine, outside the primary flood defenses. One of the potential risks of the area around KEMA Laboratories is flooding. In order to make sure that the area around KEMA Laboratories does not get flooded, a dike will be designed for this location. Witteveen+Bos created in an earlier research a temporary solution for this problem. They created an emergency plan with big bags and sand bags that can be placed if high water is expected. The emergency plan that Witteveen+Bos created is based on the former philosophy of probability of exceedance. The emergency plan also has the disadvantages that it is a temporary solution and that it has to be practiced regularly. For the bachelor thesis the option is researched to replace this temporary solution with a structural solution. A dike is designed using a semi-probabilistic design method, which is the most recent method for the designing and testing of flood defenses. The semi-probabilistic design method is still in development, but the government aims to implement this new method in 2017. A probabilistic design approach aims to determine the probability of flooding and to judge its acceptability in terms of the consequences. The dike designs in this research are made according to a semi-probabilistic design method. It is not possible yet to make a dike design with a fully probabilistic design method. The research aim of the bachelor thesis is to design a dike for KEMA Laboratories near the Lower Rhine by using a semi-probabilistic design method. The main research question that will be answered is: What dike design scores best on the given requirements and boundary conditions using a semi-probabilistic design method? To answer this question first all requirements and boundary conditions are established. The boundary conditions are divided into five categories: the wishes and requirements of KEMA Laboratories, the hydraulic boundary conditions, the geometric boundary conditions, the geotechnical boundary conditions and the geo-hydrological boundary conditions. With the requirements and boundary conditions calculations have been made for the failure mechanisms height, piping and macro stability. The output of these calculations determines the properties of the dike designs. In total there are six dike designs are established as a possible solution. There are three possible locations for the dike designs: completely around the foreland, on the foreland but with room outside the dike or completely on the terrain of KEMA Laboratories. The dike can be made in two types of materials: clay or sand with a top layer of clay. In consultation with the department for cost calculation of Witteveen+Bos the construction costs of the dike designs have been determined. In order to determine the best dike design for KEMA Laboratories, the designs are compared in a multi-criteria analysis. In the multi-criteria analysis the following criteria have been taken into account: costs, impact on the terrain of KEMA Laboratories, extensibility, sustainability and sensitivity for the failure mechanisms. Based on these criteria a sand dike located completely on the terrain of KEMA Laboratories has been chosen as the best option for the construction of a dike. This option scored best on the criteria costs, sustainability and sensitivity for the failure mechanisms. In comparison to the original emergency plan designed by Witteveen+Bos this option is a good alternative. For a respectively low costs a dike can be constructed that is designed according to the most recent legislation and that satisfies all boundary conditions and requirements.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:ET: Engineering Technology
Subject:56 civil engineering
Programme:Civil Engineering BSc (56952)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/70573
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