A testing ground with real dykes where you can do dike protection and dike monitoring tests to your heart's content. In lifelike conditions. That would make the heart of many a researcher or dike guard beat faster. And the great thing is, it exists; the Living Lab Hedwige-Prosperpolder.
What is the Living Lab?
The Hedwige-Prosperpolder, on the border of the Netherlands and Belgium, will be de-poldered and transformed into tidal nature in the coming years. During this transformation, a new ring dyke will be constructed and the Scheldt dyke will then be excavated. The de-poldering will be completed in 2024. Until then, the redevelopment of the area provides a unique 6 km2 test area, the Living Lab, for experiments and research. What is special about the Living Lab is that it will not only be used for collapse tests, but also for disaster management.
Bird view of the polder
Photo: Hedwige-Prosperpolder. Copyright Vilda - Yves Adams
Living Lab for Polder2Cs
The Living Lab has already been in full use by the Polder2Cs project for several months. This research project aims to make the 2 Seas area more climate-adaptive, to better withstand the effects of climate change such as rising sea levels. The project has a number of focus areas; flood defences, emergency response and knowledge sharing on the strength of flood defences and crisis management. The Dutch STOWA and Flemish Hydraulic Laboratory are the project's initiators. In addition, 11 other organisations from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK are involved as partners and many as acting partners.
What has already happened in the Living Lab
In October and November, several trials and experiments were conducted in the Living Lab. In particular, these field trials focused on how strong dykes are and what factors determine strength. This was investigated with overflow tests (see this video), where water flows over the dike to then determine the impact on erosion. New experiments will be conducted in spring 2021, aimed at repairing the damage done.
Overflow generator
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Polder2Cs receives a contribution of €3.9 million from the European Interreg 2 Seas programme 2014-2020, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund under grant contract No [2S07-023]. The total budget is €6.5 million. Interreg 2 Seas aims to make the coastal area along the English Channel and North Sea more climate-adaptive. More information can be found at www.interreg2seas.eu.
