Subtasks needing data

Data needs emerge from several subtasks of the project, including:

• Scenario Development that will build a test programme on a number of research questions for which suitable data is required 
• Monitoring may define requirements to survey data so that data collected during the tests is comparable to the data collected outside the testing period
• Data Management which may set requirements related to data format and metadata 
• Model validation, which will yield data requirements from the model point of view; i.e. damage, geotechnical and hydraulic models will require certain types of data.

Required data sets

From an experimental and data analysis point of view, the following data sets are required:

• Detailed geometry of the levees.
• Geotechnical and sedimentological properties of the top soil and deeper structure, properties of the cover layer including vegetation; morphological defects, such as burrows or wet spots.
• Hydraulic properties of the levee structure.

Survey techniques

We have selected the following survey techniques, see the list of survey types and items:

Topography & surface mapping

• Real-Time Kinematics (RTK) profiles over levee and on marsh 
• Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) scans of selected levee parts
• Aerial RGB orthophoto mapping   
• Aerial Photogrammetric Digital Terrain Model (DTM)
• Aerial Infrared photography of selected parts
• Survey of revetment types and levee surface properties, including animal burrows

Sedimentological and geotechnical soil properties

• Hand drilling on levee and marsh
• Machine (deep) drilling on levee
• Soil testing of selected samples (different techniques)
• Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) on levee and marsh
• Jet erosion test on levee
• Grass pulling test on levee

Geophysical properties

• Slingram method
• Electrical Resistivity Tomography
• Ground Penetrating Radar

Hydraulic and hydrologic properties

• Water level in Scheldt (part of continuous system monitoring)
• Hydraulic head in levee (divers in boreholes)
• Permeafor CPT for hydraulic conductivity in levee

Biological properties

• Vegetation mapping