Mathematical modelling in the integrated water cycle. From modelling to decision-making

Sunday 19 June, from 9 am to 1.30 pm

Organiser: Canal de Isabel II (Madrid’s public water utility)

Coordinator: Dr. Antonio Lastra de la Rubia, Innovation Coordinator at Canal de Isabel II.

This workshop will provide an overview of the different mathematical models that are used by Canal de Isabel II (Madrid’s public water utility) for problem solving in the different phases of the integrated water cycle, including:

• Multiphase infrastructures: Lattice-Boltzmann based model for biological reactors and settling tanks
• Water circulation in complex installations: 2D and 3D CFD finite volume simulations
• Sediment transport and water quality: Two-dimensional sediment transport models and diffuse pollution models.
• Surface runoff flow: Two-dimensional flood inundation models.
• Open channel flow in pipes: Urban drainage models.
• Pressure flow in pipes: Water supply models.

The role of these models in decision-making will be discussed by means of real cases.

Numerical modelling of flood hazard (with the software Iber)

Sunday 19 June, from 9 am to 1.30 pm

Organisers: Universidad de A Coruña, Universidad Politècnica de Catalunya, Universidad de Granada and CEDEX

Coordinator: Prof. Luis Cea, University of A Coruña

This workshop will be focused on the numerical modelling of flood hazard in rivers and urban settlements. The participants will use the 2D model Iber (www.iberaula.com) to learn the main steps of a flood hazard simulation. The workshop will be mainly practical. Several study cases (including river flooding and dam break flows) will be used to explain the main aspects that need to be considered when modelling a river inundation, including input data requirements, geometry and mesh generation, definition of numerical parameters and analysis of model results. Dam break flows will also be treated.

Climate change risks and adaptation in coastal areas

Sunday 19 June, from 9 am to 1.30 pm

Organisers: IHCantabria

Link: https://ihcantabria.com/en/servicios/cambio-climatico-y-servicios-climaticos/ 

Coordinator: Prof. Íñigo Losada, University of Cantabria

According to the last IPCC report, if warming is not limited to 1.5°C and without adaptation, risk from sea level rise for coastal ecosystems and people are very likely to increase tenfold well before 2100. Adaptation of coastal areas is therefore an urgent need to reduce impacts and risks and to avoid damage and losses. Coastal hydraulics must play an outstanding role in addressing this challenge.

This workshop will provide an overview on the most advanced frameworks and tools to evaluate risks related to coastal flooding, erosion or impacts on coastal infrastructures. The participants will be guided through the contents of the workshop using a variety of case studies in different geographies.

Preliminary description of the contents:

1. Introduction to climate change in coastal areas
2. Assessing climate change relate impacts
3. Climate projections of coastal dynamics: sources and applications
4. Approaches to evaluate projected impacts
5. Introduction to adaptation and resilience
6. Adaptation strategies and options: pros and cons
7. Implementation barriers and constraints
8. Adaptation planning

The Korteweg–de Vries equation and the Dynamics of undular bores (Master Class)

Sunday 19 June, from 1 to 3 pm

Organiser: Prof. Damien Violeau (EDF & Ecole des Ponts ParisTech)

Undular bores occur in oceans (final stage of tsunamis, mascarets in estuaries) as well as in rivers or channels (Favre waves upstream hydraulic dams). They look like a long, undulating hydraulic jump without air-water mixing. Undular bores are difficult to understand and to model, either from a theoretical perspective or through numerical simulation, because they are both non-linear and dispersive, i.e. they have arbitrary amplitudes and moderate wavelengths. This Master Class aims at explaining some of the most important features of undular bores from the theory of the Korteweg—de Vries (KdV) equation. The latter is a simplified equation for weakly non-linear, weakly dispersive water waves and has many interesting mathematical and physical properties. We will show how to derive this equation from the basics of fluid mechanics, then study the main physical solutions to the KdV equation: the family of cnoïdal waves and solitary waves. We will also see how the KdV equation can be rearranged through Whitam’s modulation theory to describe slowly varying wave trains through the propagation of Riemann invariants, and how Gurevich and Pitaeevski used the latter theory to model undular bores. This Master Class helps the attendees understanding the mathematical description of processes in dispersive wave trains (also called dispersive shock waves).

© Scott Dickerson

Numerical methods for particle-laden flows (Master Class)

Sunday 19 June, from 11 to 1 pm

Organiser: Dr. Bruño Fraga (University of Birmingham)

Particle-laden flows are ubiquitous in nature and very relevant to different fields of engineering. Sediments carried by rivers, plastics in oceans and, in a more general way, rain and hail, fuel sprays or aerosols floating on air are examples where a continuous matrix interacts with a dispersed phase. Such flows pose a grand challenge to experimental and numerical modellers due to the very wide spectrum of relevant time and length scales. An additional difficulty is the lack of current understanding on multiphase flow turbulence, particularly when a dispersed phase is involved; we are aware that single-phase turbulence models fail to predict the turbulent kinetic energy and dissipation generated in particle-laden flows. This Master Class aims to review the current state-of-the-art regarding the modelling of particle-laden flows, addressing their features and also introducing the main numerical techniques we employ to solve them: Eulerian-Eulerian, Eulerian-Lagrangian and interface-solving models. Key issues such as particle mapping, coupling and particle-to-particle interaction will be addressed and illustrated with examples and actual implementations in open-source codes.