Evaluation of a shoreface nourishment in De Haan: analysis of 20 years of data

In the framework of the implementation of the Master Plan for Coastal Safety and Vlaamse Baaien project, an assessment of the added value of shoreface nourishment as coastal protection measure and as alternative to classic procedures for beach nourishment maintenance will be performed. This project, entitled “Shoreface nourishments as coastal protection measure”, is carried out at Flanders Hydraulics Research with as central activity the monitoring of a pilot shoreface nourishment that will take place in 2013 in Mariakerke.The only antecedent of a shoreface nourishment in Belgium is the nourishment performed in De Haan in 1990. This document brings together results from the monitoring carried out in the 90’s as well as new results obtained from later surveys in the study area. The results is a more than twenty years analysis of the morphological evolution of the coast at the Haan. The interpretation of the results is not straight forward due to the various nourishments performed since then in neighboring areas. However, it is possible to conclude that after a local cross-and long-shore redistribution of the sand nourished in the shoreface, this sand has not been transported and therefore has remain in the system acting as sand supply for the beach.A general reduction of the background erosion has also been detected during this analysis but the fact that during the study period no severe storms occurred makes it difficult to draw a definitive conclusion in this regard.Taking into account the difficulties encountered to draw conclusions on the evolution of the beach and shoreface in De Haan during this study and the goals of the new project it is recommended that during the monitoring of the pilot shoreface nourishment to be started in 2013 no other nourishments on the beach and/or neighboring shoreface and beaches are executed

Unusual signatures of the ferromagnetic transition in the heavy Fermion compound UMn2_2Al20_{20}

Magnetic susceptibility results for single crystals of the new cubic compounds UT$_2$Al$_{20}$ (T=Mn, V, and Mo) are reported. Magnetization, specific heat, resistivity, and neutron diffraction results for a single crystal and neutron diffraction and inelastic spectra for a powder sample are reported for UMn$_2$Al$_{20}$. For T = V and Mo, temperature independent Pauli paramagnetism is observed. For UMn$_2$Al$_{20}$, a ferromagnetic transition is observed in the magnetic susceptibility at $T_c$ = 20 K. The specific heat anomaly at $T_c$ is very weak while no anomaly in the resistivity is seen at $T_c$. We discuss two possible origins for this behavior of UMn$_2$Al$_{20}$: moderately small moment itinerant ferromagnetism, or induced local moment ferromagnetism.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. rev.

Coastal management and disaster planning on the basis of flood risk calculations

Recent studies showed that one third of the Belgian coastline is not sufficiently protected against severe storm events. Therefore coastal protection plans are set up to assure a minimum safety standard for the entire coastline. Flood risk calculations constitute the main input parameter for the concept and planning phases. Since 100% safety can never be guaranteed, contingency plans are constructed to reduce the remaining flood risks. Flood risk calculations are a powerful communicative and operational instrument to use between engineers and experts on the field, thus forming the link between coastal management and disaster planning