PhD position: Hybrid particle-continuum modelling of backward erosion piping in heterogenous soil layers

In dike safety assessment, it is important to understand how failure processes at different scales contribute to flood risk. In the case of BEP, this includes erosion at the pipe tip, continued erosion along the growing pipe, and the transport of sediment under changing hydraulic conditions. These processes are driven by local and regional groundwater flow, which is strongly affected by variations in the shallow subsurface. Existing models often rely on (semi-)empirical rules, such as the Sellmeijer criterion, to predict pipe growth and the critical hydraulic head. However, because the underlying BEP mechanisms are still not fully understood, the main parameters controlling pipe development remain uncertain. As a result, predictions of when failure will occur can vary significantly.

Within Work Package 3, Upscaling BEP models across scales, you will address the following scientific challenge: incorporating BEP mechanisms into continuum-based models in which the interaction bet...