Water Entrance Kinderdijk

Abstract

The World Heritage Site Kinderdijk consists of a landscape of preserved 18th-century windmills and is a popular touristic location. The number of visitors is continuously growing for the World Heritage Site at Kinderdijk. Visitors arriving via the water network have to cross a busy road to reach the heritage site. This is an unsafe and unfavourable situation. A new water entrance at Kinderdijk is the solution to this problem. The plan is to add the function of a pedestrian passage to the existing discharge sluice at Kinderdijk named the Elshoutsluice. The discharge sluice is part of a flood defence and must keep its original function. The objective of this thesis is to provide a conceptual structural design for the multi-functional use of the discharge sluice at Kinderdijk including the functions for water discharge, flood defence, passage for (motorised) vehicles and pedestrians, which fulfils standards for flood safety and buildings in the Netherlands. This thesis shows how to approach a design case for adjustments of an existing hydraulic structure as a part of a flood defence. A conceptual design was made for the adaptation of the Elshoutsluice. For this study a design method according to Roozenburg and Eekels (1995) and Voorendt (2020) was used. The Elshoutsluice was divided into different subsystems and elements. The concepts for the location of the new pedestrian tunnel, the floor configuration, the roof and gates were developed. After the functional verification and evaluation, a selection was made from the best remaining alternatives for the elements and subsystems. The selected alternative is a pedestrian tunnel above culvert number 2. As a result, the existing gates of culvert 2 will be replaced with new gates to provide flood protection in case of high water. A flap gate and a vertical unfolding gate are selected. The existing technical area expands above culvert number 3. A multi-functional space is included above culvert number 3. Culverts 1 and 4 remain unchanged. Additional soil will be placed on top of the structure to provide a slope for the connection of the heightened road on top of the sluice to the road at the adjacent levee. The conceptual design and construction phase was checked for the flood safety based on the WBI 2017 and OI 2014 and fulfils the requirements. Stability checks were performed for governing load situations of the Elshoutsluice for the construction phase and use phase. The difference in loading on the structure for the initial design and the new situation was analysed. Additional checks are needed for the lateral walls in all the culverts and the top slab of culvert 1 and 4 due to the increase in shear force and bending moments. The conclusion is the resulting conceptual design.