The loss of reservoir by sediment accumulation is a challenging issue. The sediment trapped in a reservoir have many consequences related to the loss of storage, loss of production and loss of nutrients downstream of the reservoir. The loss of storage is threatening the sustainability of the reservoir for use by the future generation. The loss of production raises economic viability questions. And, the loss of nutrients can have significant ecosystem impacts downstream [Kondolf, G.M. et al. (2014)]. Hence, moving sediments downstream of the dams is the area of study and research for recent years.

The objective of this PhD project is:
To develop a toolbox for technical solutions of sediment handling in a reservoir via parametric design process to provide a decision support system for a value based, resilient and sustainable solution.

The scope of work is defined as follows:

1. Understanding sediment transport and distribution at a river bend
2. Investigate sediment transport in a physical hydraulic model.
3. Investigate river hydraulics, hydraulic structure and sediment transport in numerical models
4. Evaluate the effects of different parameter on sediment transport
5. Develop a numerical toolbox with the results obtained from the numerical and physical model investigations.