Jan De Nul organised study day and EURECCA meeting at Coastal & Ocean Basin, Ostend

February 1, 2024

On 15 January, 33 colleagues from different Jan De Nul departments met 22 researchers from UGent, TUDelft and the EURECC-project consortium. They interacted to exchange knowledge on joint research and innovation activities. This included the use of research infrastructure such as the Coastal & Ocean Basin (CDE) at the Maritime Research Centre (MOC) in Ostend.

Presentations and visit to testing infrastructure

The study day started with presentations by several scientists from the ‘Coastal Engineering’ research group and the ‘Coastal & Ocean Basin’ team at UGent.

During the presentations, participants were told about an integrated approach to numerical and experimental modelling and monitoring of coastal hydraulic structures, nature-based solutions and offshore technologies. They were then introduced to the ‘Coastal & Ocean Basin’ and ended with the dune-dike hybrid and nature-based solutions for coastal protection being developed and studied within ‘DuneFront’. This is a new ‘HORIZON Europe’ project coordinated by UGent, in collaboration with Jan De Nul and 15 other EU partners.

The morning concluded with a technical visit to the Coastal & Ocean Basin in Ostend. This is a brand-new testing facility for experimental testing of scale models of coastal and offshore structures and renewable energy technologies, among others, under load from waves and currents. Jan De Nul will make use of this infrastructure in future projects.

EURECCA research meeting

The afternoon commenced with a meeting of partners involved in the “EURECCA” project (Effective Upgrades and REtrofits for Coastal Climate Adaptation). This is an NWO project of TUDelft and Utrecht University, in which Jan De Nul is also a partner. Here, the Prince Henry Sand Dike on Texel in the Netherlands, built by Jan De Nul, serves as a case study for field research, measurements and numerical modelling. This dyke received the NGB Nature Award in 2019.

The EURECCA meeting concluded with a visit to the Research Dyke of the Living Lab in Raversijde. The research dyke was recently built by Jan De Nul on behalf of the Flemish Government.