Many flows in environmental and in industrial situations can be characterised as ‘shallow’, with the horizontal scales being essentially larger than the vertical size of the flow domain. Examples are flows in rivers, estuaries, the coastal region, harbours, fresh water reservoirs, but also in settling chambers for water treatment. Shallowness implies a rather specific flow dynamics.

The purpose of this Lecture Series is to offer an overview of various aspects of shallow flows: fundamental as well as applied aspects, and numerical modelling as well as laboratory studies and field observations. Topics that will be addressed in the Lecture Series are, for example, laboratory and numerical studies of fundamental physical processes and transport mechanisms in shallow mixing layers, wakes, jets, and open channels. Also, transport of heat, solutes, and pollutants in canonical shallow flows and generic flow configurations will be discussed. Other topics are: interaction with vegetation, sediment transport and morphodynamics, which are relevant features of environmental shallow flows, such as occurring in the coastal area, estuaries, harbours and in rivers.

The course will be delivered by a number of internationally recognized experts. The aim of this course is to give a wide overview of various aspects of shallow flows. No specific prior knowledge of geophysical or environmental fluid dynamics is required, although it is assumed that the participants have a general background in fluid dynamics.

The Lecture Series Director is Professor GertJan van Heijst from TU Eindhoven and the local coordinator is Professor Jeroen van Beeck from the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics.

Location : von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics