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| Delft3D | |
|---|---|
| Name | Delft3D |
| Caption | Delft3D graphical output |
| Developer | Deltares; Delft Hydraulics |
| Released | 1990s |
| Programming language | Fortran; C; Python |
| Operating system | Linux; Windows |
| Genre | Computational fluid dynamics; hydrodynamic modelling |
| License | Open-source; proprietary components |
Delft3D is a modular hydrodynamic and morphodynamic modelling suite designed for simulation of water flow, waves, sediment transport, and ecology in rivers, coasts, estuaries, and tidal basins. It integrates numerical solvers for shallow-water equations, wave action, and transport processes to support planning, engineering, and research by organizations such as Deltares, Delft University of Technology, UNESCO, United Nations Environment Programme, and national water agencies. The software is commonly coupled with GIS platforms and engineering workflows used by European Commission projects, World Bank studies, and regional flood management programs.
Delft3D provides coupled modules for hydrodynamics, waves, sediment transport, and water quality that operate on curvilinear and unstructured grids. It is used alongside tools and institutions like ArcGIS, QGIS, Python (programming language), MATLAB, OpenStreetMap, NetCDF, and HDF5 for preprocessing and postprocessing. Practitioners in agencies such as US Army Corps of Engineers, Environment Agency (England), Rijkswaterstaat, Singapore Public Utilities Board, and Australian Department of Environment apply it for impact assessment related to projects by firms like Royal HaskoningDHV, AECOM, Mott MacDonald, and WSP Global.
Development began in research groups connected to Delft University of Technology and the predecessor institute Delft Hydraulics, later consolidated under Deltares. Early advances paralleled computational work at institutions such as Max Planck Society, Imperial College London, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and ETH Zurich. The codebase evolved through collaborations with projects funded by the European Union and agencies like NASA, NOAA, and DFG (German Research Foundation). Key algorithmic influences trace to researchers and laboratories linked to von Kármán Institute, University of Cambridge, University of California, Berkeley, and Wageningen University & Research.
The suite includes solvers and tools for hydrodynamics, wave action, sediment transport, morphology, and water quality chemistry. Modules interoperate with data standards from OGC and file formats used by UNESCO World Heritage modelling archives, and integrate with visualization tools like ParaView, Tecplot, and VisIt. Computational kernels were optimized drawing on libraries and paradigms from MPI, OpenMP, and numerical methods developed at INRIA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories. Pre- and post-processing utilities work with bathymetry and topography data sources such as GEBCO, LIDAR surveys, and datasets maintained by European Space Agency missions.
Engineers and scientists apply the software for coastal protection, flood risk mapping, sediment management, and ecological habitat assessment. Case studies involve infrastructure projects commissioned by European Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and municipal authorities in cities like Rotterdam, New Orleans, Singapore, Venice, and Tokyo. Research coupling hydrodynamics with ecology appears in collaborations with WWF, IUCN, and university groups at University of Oxford, Princeton University, Yale University, University of Cape Town, and Peking University. Emergency response modeling leverages operational systems maintained by Met Office, Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (Argentina), and Japan Meteorological Agency.
Validation efforts compare model outputs with field campaigns, remote sensing from Sentinel (satellite family), Landsat, and in situ measurements from agencies like USGS, KNMI, and ICES. Benchmarking draws on experimental datasets from laboratories such as Delft Hydraulics Laboratory, Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory (University of Coimbra), HR Wallingford, and wave flume studies at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Performance tuning has incorporated parallel computing resources used by PRACE, XSEDE, and national supercomputing centers including NVIDIA-accelerated nodes and clusters at CINECA.
The software is distributed under mixed licensing schemes, with core components released as open-source under licenses aligned with organizations like Apache Software Foundation practices and contributor agreements similar to those used by GitHub-hosted projects. Certain modules, commercial support, and Windows installers are offered through Deltares and partner consultancies under paid agreements typical of Siemens-style industry support arrangements. Distribution channels include code repositories and package mirrors used by communities around GitLab, GitHub, and institutional archives.
A broad user community includes researchers, consultants, and government practitioners who convene at conferences such as Coastal Dynamics Conference, EGU General Assembly, IAHR World Congress, and workshops organized by Deltares and Delft University of Technology. Training and documentation efforts are provided through courses by UNESCO-IHE, TU Delft Executive Education, and professional development by firms like Jacobs Engineering Group. Community forums, mailing lists, and issue trackers mirror collaboration platforms used by Stack Overflow, ResearchGate, and academic networks centered on ORCID profiles.
Category:Hydrodynamic modelling software