Benjamin de Brye

PhD student in physics under the supervision of Pr. Eric Deleersnijder
Research Fellow within the framework of the TIMOTHY project which is funded by the Belgian Science Policy (BELSPO)

Université catholique de Louvain
Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering (iMMC)
Avenue George Lemaître, 4
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium

Université catholique de Louvain
Georges Lemaître Centre for Earth and Climate Research (TECLIM)
Chemin du Cyclotron, 2
1348 Louvain-la-Neuve
Belgium

Tel. +32 (0)10 47 80 26
benjamin_dot_debrye_at_uclouvain_dot_be

Research overview

My research is focused on the development of a multiscale finite-element model (SLIM) for river-sea continua with applications to the Scheldt (Belgium/Netherlands) and the Mahakam (Indonesia/Borneo Island).

The generation of unstructured grids using GMSH
Development of SLIM to model the hydrodynamics of the Scheldt Estuary taking into account the tide, the river discharge and the meteorological forcings
Development of the 1D part of SLIM to model the fresh tidal rivers upstream to Antwerp
Calibration and validation of the hydrodynamics and advection-diffusion in SLIM
Computation of high-resolution timescales for the Scheldt Estuary such as residence time, exposure time and age. The latter being described by the CART theory.
Modeling of Escherichia Coli in the Scheldt Tidal River

More information on SLIM model

More information on the modelling of the Scheldt Estuary using SLIM

SLIM Animations

Publications

Published papers

de Brauwere A., F. De Ridder, O. Gourgue, J. Lambrechts, R. Comblen, R. Pintelon, J. Passerat, P. Servais, M. Elskens, W. Baeyens, T. Kärnä, B. de Brye and E. Deleersnijder, 2009, Design of a sampling strategy to optimally calibrate a reactive transport model: exploring the potential for Escherichia coli in the Scheldt Estuary, Environmental Modelling & Software, 24, 969-981 (Article)
de Brye B., A. de Brauwere, O. Gourgue, T. Kärnä, J. Lambrechts, R. Comblen and E. Deleersnijder, 2010, A finite-element, multi-scale model of the Scheldt tributaries, River, Estuary and ROFI, Coastal Engineering, 57, 850-863 (Article)
Blaise S., B. de Brye, A. de Brauwere, E. Deleersnijder, E. J. M. Delhez and R. Comblen, 2010, Capturing the residence time boundary layer - Application to the Scheldt Estuary, Ocean Dynamics, 60, 535-554 (Article)
de Brauwere, B. de Brye, S. Blaise and E. Deleersnijder, 2011, Residence time, exposure time and connectivity in the Scheldt Estuary, Journal of Marine Systems, 84, 85-95 (Article)
Kärnä T., B. de Brye, O. Gourgue, J. Lambrechts, R. Comblen, V. Legat and E. Deleersnijder, 2011, A fully implicit wetting-drying method for DG-FEM shallow water models, with an application to the Scheldt Estuary, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 200, 509-524 (Article)
de Brauwere A., B. de Brye, P. Servais, J. Passerat and E. Deleersnijder, Modelling Escherichia coli concentrations in the tidal Scheldt River and Estuary, Water Research (accepted for publication)

Submitted papers

de Brye B., S. Schellen, M. Sassi, B. Vermeulen, T. Kärnä, E. Deleersnijder and T. Hoitink, Preliminary results of a finite-element, multi-scale model of the Mahakam Delta (Indonesia), Ocean Dynamics (submitted)
Sassi M.G., A.J.F. Hoitink, B. De Brye, B. Vermeulen and E. Deleersnijder, Tidal impact on the division of river discharge over distributary channels in the Mahakam Delta, Ocean Dynamics (submitted)

In preparation

de Brye, B., de Brauwere, O. Gourgue, A., Delhez, E., and Deleersnijder, E., Water renewal time-scales in the Scheldt Estuary.