One-Dimensional Numerical Modelling of the Hydrodynamics and Temperature of the River Saône

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INRAE presentation

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) is a major player in research and innovation. It is a community of 12,000 people with 272 research, experimental research, and support units located in 18 regional centres throughout France. Internationally, INRAE is among the top research organisations in the agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences, as well as in ecology and environmental science. It is the world’s leading research organisation specialising in agriculture, food and the environment. INRAE’s goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges. Faced with a growing world population, climate change, resource scarcity, and declining biodiversity, the Institute has a major role to play in building solutions and supporting the necessary acceleration of agricultural, food and environmental transitions.

Work environment, missions and activities

Background
The development of physically based models for temperature dynamics in large anthropised rivers has become necessary in the context of climate and global change, in order to refine predictions of future water temperatures. Two key issues emerge from recent literature: temperature propagation in complex flow conditions (diffluences, confluences, transverse structures, etc.) and exchanges with the groundwater. Initial simulations using the T-NET model (pers. comm. F. Moatar/F. Branger, Fig. 1) have shown that the temperature of the Saône River is poorly simulated, likely due to simplified hydraulic modelling and/or insufficient knowledge of contributions from the alluvial aquifer to the Saône River. To overcome these limitations while maintaining computational efficiency, we propose, within the framework of a Carnot “Water & Environment” project, to develop a temperature-transport module coupled with a one-dimensional hydraulic model. Ultimately, such a model could itself be coupled with physically based hydrological and thermal models at the watershed scale. Preliminary work was carried out as part of a first internship, enabling discussion of the key aspects to be modelled on the River Saône whilst conducting a sensitivity analysis of the main parameters included in AdisTT on typical test cases. The next step is to construct the hydraulic model of the River Saône and to validate AdisTT on a real case, paying particular attention to the dams and possible interactions with the groundwater table.

 

Main objectives of the internship
The main objective for the intern will be to build a hydraulic model covering the entire Saône River from its confluence with the Doubs -or even from the confluence with the Echalonge stream in Haute-Saône- down to Lyon. One first aim is to produce a hydraulic model capable of reproducing Saône River flow dynamics from low-water conditions to flood events, accounting as accurately as possible for existing hydraulic structures (dams with diversion channels, etc.) and including potential groundwater exchanges. Then, the intern will use the module AdisTT in order to provide a comparaison with results from T-NET.

 

Internship tasks
The intern will first use an existing 1D model (built by Cerema using the 1D model Mascaret). The intern’s first task will be to build the 1D model of the River Saône using the Pamhyr2 platform, and to calibrate and validate the Mage hydraulic solver. Then, he/she will apply the module AdisTT to simulate the temperature propagation along the River Saône in order to reproduce and discuss results with the solftware T-NET. Finally, a focus on river dams and potential river–groundwater exchanges will be done to assess their impacts on the hydrodynamics and temperature of the River Saône.
 

Training and skills

• Master’s student (M1 or M2) or engineering student (2nd or 3rd year of the engineering cycle) in hydraulics or physical geography. The internship requires knowledge of open-channel hydraulics, ideally with experience in numerical modelling. Basic Python programming skills would be appreciated.
• Autonomy, initiative, and teamwork skills are essential.

How to apply

I send my CV and my motivation letter