Dike Risk Assessment
Oral
Vincent Vuik, MSc
PhD candidate
Delft University of Technology
This study shows how vegetated foreshores affect the probability of dike failure by wave impact or overtopping, taking into account uncertainties in hydraulic loads, foreshore geometry and vegetation, and dike characteristics. Further, analysis of historic catastrophic floods demonstrates that a stable foreshore reduces the number of dike breaches and their dimensions, thereby limiting the discharge of water into the embanked area and the subsequent loss-of-life and economic damage. Concluding, vegetated foreshores in front of dikes can effectively mitigate flood risk, by reducing wave loads on the dike and by limiting potential consequences of dike failure due to confined breach dimensions.