Modeling the risk of breakage of beaver dams

Municipalities in Quebec lack tools to effectively anticipate and manage the consequences of beaver dam outburst flooding. When beaver dams fail the resulting flooding can pose a major threat to public safety and public and private infrastructure. A research project lead by Dr. Jan Franssen in partership with OBV RPNS and its Municipal partners is developing knowledge necessary for the effective classification of the risks associated with beaver dams situated upstream of public and private infrastructure. The project will lead to the development of a hydrogeomorphic based risk assessment approach that will enable municipalities to determine the risks associated with beaver dams. A key aspect of the project involves the hydraulic modeling of potential outburst floods that result from beaver dam failure. The applicant (Alan J D Villagómez) will work directly with Dr. Franssen and his graduate students to develop and test hydraulic models to assess how these outburst floods interact with the river channel and downstream infrastructure. This is a critical aspect of the project and one for which the applicants knowledge and academic training are particularly well suited.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jan Franssen

Student:

Partner:

Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Natural Resources; Sustainability & the Environment; Public Service, Policy, and Governance

University:

Université de Montréal

Program: