Postdoc in Swash Zone Sediment and Particle Transport

Are you worried about the coastal regions in an era of climate change and plastic pollution? Do you want to play a part in the development of a novel numerical model that can shed light on these societal challenges? Then this Postdoc position is for you.

Applications are invited for an 18 months Postdoc position within the general field of coastal engineering at The Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, section for Fluid Mechanics, Coastal and Maritime Engineering (FVM).

The position will play an integral part of the project “SHORE: Simulating coastal HydrOdynamics and particle tRansport procEsses”, financed by the European Research Council. The SHORE project is briefly described below:

Beaches are eroding at many locations around the world, and with the pending climate change (sea level rise and increased storminess in Northern Europe), coastal erosion is expected to potentially worsen. State-of-the-art practical engineering models for predicting sand and particle transport struggle with the cross-shore processes (perpendicular to the beach), and they even have difficulties predicting the sign right (offshore transport vs. onshore transport), in an experimental setting where the boundary conditions are fully known. The shortage of state-of-the-art models also means that the spreading of microplastic particles, which are increasingly polluting the oceans cannot be predicted accurately. As a result, the future shape of the world’s coastal profiles and the fate of microplastic particles in the coastal region are largely unknown.  SHORE aims to bridge this knowledge and competence gap and develop the first model capable of accurately simulating both on and offshore transport of sediments and microplastic particles without case-specific calibration.

The project will also involve collaboration between DTU, Utrecht University, Aberdeen University and Twente University. A short external research stay at Twente University to collaborate on the model formulation is expected.

Responsibilities and tasks

The overall focus of the postdoc is to develop models for cross-shore sediment and particle transport in the swash zone. The development of the model will largely be built on existing datasets from large scale wave flumes. These datasets will not involve actual swash zone processes, but rather measurements of coastal profile development from which the sediment transport rates can be derived. One experimental campaign at the hydraulic laboratory at DTU is planned to aid the development of the models. You will be leading the experimental campaign. The developed swash zone model will be coupled with other models, developed within the project, which covers the rest of the coastal profile. 

You will work together with other young researchers involved in the project as well as with international academic and industrial collaborators. 

Key tasks involve: 

• Planning, executing and analysing results from an experimental campaign in DTU’s wave flumes
• Assembling a large database containing historical experimental results coastal profile development in various conditions.
• Development of a novel model for sediment and particle transport in the swash zone
• Dissemination of research findings in scientific journals and international conferences
• Release of the developed models open source for public usage
• Team meetings with other members of the SHORE project
• Co-supervision of MSc. Projects related to the project 

Application procedure 

To apply, please read the full job advertisement by clicking the 'Apply' button

Read more about DTU at www.dtu.dk/english

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