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Project 4.03: Options for the regulation and adaptation of hydraulic engineering measures to climate induced changes of the discharge regime

Sven Wurms, BAW,
sven.wurms@baw.de

Dr Michael Schröder, BAW,
Section W1,
Tel. +49 (0) 721/9726-3730, michael.schroeder@baw.de


Objectives

Due to climate change, the occurrence of droughts, as well as their duration, may increase in future. Thus, the identification and evaluation of potential hydraulic engineering and water management measures to guarantee a minimum flow depth in navigation channels are to be investigated in the project.

For this purpose, the actual condition of German waterways is being analysed hydraulically by means of a 2D depth-averaged numerical model, yielding the expected flow depth under a variation of extreme low water conditions. In a first pilot project a 65 km long stretch of the river Rhine between Mainz and St. Goar will be investigated where already decisive hydraulic bottlenecks are located.

Based on the identification of bottlenecks, one first measure is a width-reduced and deepened “fairway within the fairway", providing the required flow depth for navigation during extreme droughts. This investigation shall be accomplished in close collaboration with project 4.04.

Further hydraulic regulation measures will be designed and surveyed in respect to their applicability in this context. Besides conventional regulation structures, such as groins and training dikes, temporary measures are considered as well.

The estimation of the maintenance effort by the operational output of a morphodynamical model is used as an integral part in optimisation and design of the different regulation measures.

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