LNEC and University Lisbon will have a phd student for vegetation research from February 2017. They requested Tomohiro Suzuki (TSI) as a co-supervisor of the student since TSI has an extended experience on numerical modelling of vegetated field. In this project TSI will act as a co-superviser of Mr. Rui Reis (the phd student) from LNEC / IST (University Lisbon). The phd period is in total 4 years.
The contents of the phd is as follows: Vegetation is recognized as important for dissipating wave energy and protecting the shoreline from erosion especially in the aftermath of recent storms and the possible increase in storm frequency and intensity due to climate change. Understanding the hydrodynamic processes is therefore important for making proper decisions on how to manage and preserve these ecosystems to maximize their health and the benefit they provide to the hinterland. One important hydrodynamic process in terms of protection of the hinterland is the dissipation of wave energy by vegetation. The study of wave dissipation by vegetation has not been studied thoroughly yet, especially when applying numerical modelling in large areas and considering different types plants. The main objective of the PhD work is to develop comprehensive numerical models for the wave propagation over vegetation in large coastal areas considering different kind of plants.