Efficiency of artificial sandbanks in the mouth of the Elbe Estuary for damping the incoming tidal energy
Sothmann, J.; Schuster, D.; Kappenberg, J.; Ohle, N. (2012). Efficiency of artificial sandbanks in the mouth of the Elbe Estuary for damping the incoming tidal energy, in: Schüttrumpf, H. et al. (Ed.) 5th SCACR International Short Conference on Applied Coastal Research: proceedings, 6th-9th June, 2011 - RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Mitteilungen des Lehrstuhls und Instituts für Wasserbau und Wasserwirtschaft der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule Aachen, 165: pp. 255-263 In: Schüttrumpf, H.; Tomasicchio, G.R. (Ed.) (2012). 5th SCACR International Short Conference on Applied Coastal Research: proceedings, 6th-9th June, 2011 - RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Mitteilungen des Lehrstuhls und Instituts für Wasserbau und Wasserwirtschaft der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule Aachen, 165. Shaker: Aachen. ISBN 978-3-8440-1132-6. XII, 603 pp., more In: Mitteilungen des Lehrstuhls und Instituts für Wasserbau und Wasserwirtschaft der Rheinisch-Westfälischen Technischen Hochschule Aachen. Shaker: Aachen. ISSN 1437-8477, more |  |
| Keywords | Sedimentary structures > Bed forms > Banks (topography) > Sand banks
Structures > Hydraulic structures > Coastal structures > Coast defences
ANE, Germany, Elbe Estuary [Marine Regions]
Marine/Coastal; Brackish water | | Author keywords | Coastal defence; Artificial sandbanks; Numerical modelling; Damping tidal energy |
| Authors | | Top | - Sothmann, J.
- Schuster, D.
- Kappenberg, J.
- Ohle, N.
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| Abstract | The tidal system of the Elbe Estuary has changed significantly in the past. Due to anthropogenic interventions and natural changes flood plains were reduced and the friction of the Elbe Estuary decreased. As a result tidal range and sediment transport increased upstream. Furthermore the tidal wave propagates faster through the estuary and produces an increased tidal range in Hamburg. This leads to a heightening of the flooding risk along the Elbe Estuary. In the framework of the European Project THESEUS the efficiency of five different artificial sandbanks scenarios in the mouth of the Elbe Estuary for attenuating the incoming tidal energy by reflection itself or by increasing the friction is investigated by means of a hydrodynamical numerical model. The results show that the effect of sandbanks above mean sea level on the currents and water elevations is rather local, the sandbanks are only relevant during flood-tide, and will not change the hydrodynamics along the Estuary significantly. Another option, the introduction of underwater sandbanks in tidal creeks, seems to be more effective. |
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