Research and development

Research and development is one element in Watermotion’s ∧ fourfold track record in • consultancy • marketing • outreach • research

Topics

environmental flows
- tides • wind-driven circulation • storm surges • effluent mixing
computational hydraulics
- modelling fully 3D motions in bodies with a free surface • turbulent particle dispersion
software development
- programming for scientific computing
hydrodynamics solvers
- ADCIRC • CORMIX • D-FLOW FM • PANORMUS • STREAM • SWAN • TELEMAC • WAQUA • XBEACH
verification and validation
- quantitative error assessments • comparison with/of experimental data

Tools

computing languages and libraries
evaluation of experimental/observational data sets
quantitative accuracy assessments
scoping studies and ‘no-regret’ investigations

Outputs

articles in peer-reviewed publications
original research and state-of-the-art reviews
grey literature
briefings and reports
software programs
code development, unit-testing, implementation, execution, translation

R&D track record

In the spotlight

In the first 365 days online, data from the public collection of +high-resolution SPH simulations of a 2D dam-break flow against a vertical wall have been downloaded 3884 times.
The Viability study of a prototype windstorm for the Wadden Sea surges of 2009 led to revising the official methods to calculate storm loads on flood defences in the Netherlands (in the context of the +Wettelijk Toetsinstrumentarium 2011)
The multi-year research project Modelling studies of sediment deposition from waste-water discharges in the marine environment (‘Sedjet’, 2003-2006) resulted in a publication awarded with the +2010 Karl Emil Hilgard Hydraulic Prize by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Moreover, it led to a review paper with a critique of ↓ 30 years of experimental data for turbulent jets

2018-20 | Graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration and numerical optimization for Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) codes

Research associate at the Delft University of Technology in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science; Delft Institute for Applied Mathematics; Numerical Analysis group.

2017 | Storm-surge simulations: a quantitative comparison of some shallow-water solvers

Computer-assisted simulations of storm surges contribute key information to decisions with huge geographical coverage, future projection and socio-economical relevance. Available analytical solutions provide partial but exact benchmarks for unsteady wind-driven flows. These can be used as one means to verify the quality of numerical simulations of storm surges. Watermotion has carried out a quantitative error analysis to three open-source flow solvers for the shallow-water equations: +ADCIRC, +D-Flow Flexible Mesh, and +Telemac. Presented at the +4th International Symposium on Shallow Flows

2016 | ↓ Porting scientific software from Matlab® into Python

Watermotion ported the client’s pieces of scientific software from Matlab^® into Python. The product code in the open-source language Python precisely calculates the same results as the client’s original code in Matlab^®. The product code also is Py2/3 compatible and follows the PEP8 style guidelines. Object-oriented programming enhances batch-mode operations, handling customized input formats, ease of use and development. The heading links to the project brochure

2015 | D-Flow Flexible Mesh: skill evaluation for storm surges simulations

Watermotion is a pilot user of +D-Flow Flexible Mesh, the next-generation flow modelling tool launched by Deltares in Sept 2015. Meshing with cells of arbitrary form distinguishes it from the flagship model Delft3D. The collaboration with the Software Development Group focussed on the quantitative accuracy assessment for storm tide simulations. Watermotion presented the research progress at the Delft Software Days 2014 and 2015 and has provided two sections for the validation document (release pending)

2015 | ADCIRC: feasibility of pilot flow simulations

A collaborative project with BMT Argoss, NL. It aimed to assess the potential of the widely-used flow model ADCIRC for integrated application with other BMT Argoss weather and wave models. Watermotion contributed its expertise in CFD and coastal modelling. +ADCIRC (for ADvanced CIRCulation model) has been in development by a US research consortium since 1994

— related ∧ testimonial of F. Enet

2009 | ↓ Viability study of a prototype windstorm for the Wadden Sea surges

To assess the dike-safety criteria this study explored aimed simplifications of the storms causing severe surges in the Wadden Sea. Hundreds of synthetic wind fields were obtained by progressively depriving the real wind fields of the space- and time- variability in speed and direction. The artificial surges thus calculated showed that no simplification could approximate the severity of the real surges, suggesting a strong specificity of the storms hazarding the coastal defences in the Wadden Sea. An attempt has been made to defined a unified framework to parametrize different storms | A project conducted at Alkyon Hydraulic Research & Consultancy, NL | The results were also condensed in a ↓ poster for the +2010 Storm Surges Congress | BibTex citation downlodable from ↓ here

2003-6 | Modelling studies of sediment deposition from waste-water discharges in the marine environment

Multi-year joint research project between the University of Dundee (experiments) and the University of Manchester (CFD simulations), funded by EPSRC. As a post-doctoral assistant at the University of Manchester, GL was responsible for the calibration of the in-house research flow solver STREAM and the development of the numerical particle tracking algorithm that simulated the particle dispersion in a jet. The article summarizing the joint results was ∨awarded by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2010. This study also resulted in a ↓ review paper on experimental data on turbulent jets

2002–3 | ↓ Internal diffuser hydraulics

Impromptu collaboration with the staff of the Institute for Hydromechanics at the University of Karlsruhe (now KIT) concerning the partition of the flow across multiple outlets in diffusers of sea outfalls. The study underpinned the attending module of the dispersion model CORMIX. The research stay was part-funded by DAAD and took place during the Ph.D. studies at the University Federico II of Naples | The heading links to the resulting joint publication. In memoriam G.H. Jirka (1944-2010)

1999–2003 | Numerical simulation of wind-induced motion fields in natural bodies of water

Research project at the University of Palermo, funded by the Ministry for University and Research, carried out as Ph.D. student and as Research Assistant. GL worked on the simulation, verification, validation and implementation of the free-surface motion into the in-house CFD solver. The investigations of physical systems concerned simulations for the wind-driven circulation in gulfs and lakes. The further-developed code is known as +PANORMUS 3D and is a open-source software

More track records

∧ portfolio pathfinder — the overview of the track records
∨ case studies — investigations of location-specific flows
∨ marketing — promotion, intent and team building
∨ outreach — capacity building and knowledge transfer

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last edited October 2022 · authored by Giordano Lipari