Morphological 1D-model of the River Elbe

Period:	2008-2009
Client:	Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde, Germany

assignment/short description

The river Elbe is a waterway connecting parts of Eastern Germany and Czech Republic with other
important waterways and the port of Hamburg.

On navigable rivers the character and extent of construction and maintenance activities depends on the morphological and hydrological development of the waterway. Therefore, a tool is needed that can be used to predict the response of the river bed to sediment management activities and to increase the knowledge about the morphologic behaviour of the system.

To this end, a 1-dimensional hydrodynamic and morphological model has been developed for large-scale long-term analyses. It will also be used to answer questions related to water resources management, water quality and climate change. The project was carried out in cooperation with Björnsen Consulting Engineers and IWU Dr. Schumacher in Germany (hydrodynamic modeling).