What does the future of the Oosterschelde storm surge barrier look like? That is the central question of a symposium on Monday, September 22, organized by Rijkswaterstaat and HZ University of Applied Sciences.
Experts will shed light on the future of this remarkable structure. You can still register for the symposium, which starts at 9:45 a.m. at HZ on Het Groene Woud in Middelburg. Registration for the event is possible via this link.
Below is the exact program:
09:45–10:00 – Opening by HZ leading lecturer Jasper van Houcke and Lillian Sikkema, coordinating director of Storm Surge Barriers and director of Network Management Sea and Delta
10:00–10:30 – James Buysschaert (TU Delft / Dura Vermeer) with “Behind the barrier, an assessment of public tolerance for increasing closures of the Oosterschelde barrier”
10:30–11:00 – Padraig Naughton (HZ) takes the audience through the possibilities of asset management methodologies such as root cause analysis to maintain barriers in a future-proof way
11:00–11:20 – Break
11:20–11:40 – Signing of a new cooperation agreement between HZ and Rijkswaterstaat
11:45–12:15 – William Hazel (HZ) demonstrates the possibilities of (big) data analysis: data that are already available and usable to enable smarter maintenance
12:15–13:15 – Lunch and poster sessions with students. Two student groups from the Technasium of the Goese Lyceum present their projects about the Oosterschelde barrier. Short guided tours of the JRCZ are also available.
13:15–13:45 – Jesse Simonse (Rijkswaterstaat) shares new insights from modern techniques and simulations of the barrier. Jesse is project leader of the scale model of the barrier
13:45–14:30 – Marc Walraven (Rijkswaterstaat) introduces Sunke Trace-Kleeberg from the University of Southampton. Her PhD research focuses on the influence of sea-level rise and major tidal cycles on barrier maintenance.