A new bed for the river Inde: a case study with special view on the risk of depth erosion

摘要

This paper presents the results of research about a river relocation in a German coal mining area. The river Inde resides in the lignite dismantling area called the "Rhineland", which is enclosed by the three towns Aachen, Cologne and Moenchengladbach. In the year 2005 the contemporary riverbed will be intersected as a result of the brown coal mines forward movement to the east and the continued use of lignite as energy source for the neighbouring power plants. Long time enduring critical shear stresses throughout flood events could cause depth erosion, which would damage or eventually destroy the sealing layer and therefore flood the pit mine as a worst-case scenario. Hence, the aim is to give the new river as much freedom as possible and to eliminate any uncertainties regarding the flood protection of the coalmine at the same time.