Effects of storm surges on Europe’s coasts M. Saber Elsayed receives De Paepe-Willems-Award

It is to be expected that climate change will lead to greater and more frequent storm surges in coastal areas. One possible consequence in the event of an emergency is the failure of coastal protection structures surrounding Germany and Europe’s coasts. As a result, salt water could penetrate the fresh groundwater and impair valuable resources. The research of Dr. Saber M. Elsayed from the Leichtweiß-Institut für Wasserbau focuses on the development of a numerical model that can simulate the effects of storm surges on sandy coastal protection structures (especially dunes) and groundwater.

Dr.-Ing. Saber M. Elsayed is the first PostDoc Career Grantee at the TU Braunschweig.
Picture credits: Jonas Vogel/TU Braunschweig.

For his research, Dr. Saber M. Elsayed, scientific assistant at the Leichtweiß-Institut für Wasserbau of the Technische Universität Braunschweig in the Department of Hydromechanics, Coastal Engineering and Lake Construction (headed by Professor Nils Goseberg), received the De Paepe-Willems Award of PIANC (World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure).

The De Paepe-Willems Award is an international prize awarded annually by PIANC. PIANC is one of the oldest worldwide technical-scientific associations for port and waterway construction and maritime and inland navigation. Since 1985, Germany has won first prize three times (2003, 2006 and 2019).

Saber M. Elsayed was invited to the annual meeting in Kobe, Japan, where he received the award in June 2019 and gave a lecture on his research. Elsayed’s work is entitled “New integral modelling and analysis approach for storm surge induced barrier fractures, coastal flooding and subsequent vertical saltwater intrusions“. The prize is endowed with 4,000 Euro.