openTELEMAC: water quality and sediment morphodynamic
December 7-8, 2027
Course summary
See the course pageDo you recognize yourself?
- You use TELEMAC-2D/3D for hydrodynamics, but you don't know how to couple your results with water-quality tracers (oxygen, eutrophication, micropollutants, surface thermal exchange).
- You need to study the dispersion of a pollutant or micropollutant in a lake or river, but you're not sure which WAQTEL sub-module to choose or how to structure a degradation study over time.
- You need to model the morphodynamic evolution of a sediment bed (deposition, erosion, estuary siltation) but you don't have a good grasp of the different sediment classes (cohesive, non-cohesive, mixed) or the associated GAIA models.
- You've already run a GAIA computation, but the results don't match your field observations, and you don't know which levers to adjust (active layers, stratigraphy, flocculation, slope effects, helical currents...).
Why our training in particular?
Two complementary modules, one complete picture
Over two days, you cover both water quality (WAQTEL) and sediment morphodynamics (GAIA), openTELEMAC's two most widely used extensions in environmental engineering.
A concrete engineering case every afternoon
Dispersion of a micropollutant in a lake's sediments on day one, morphodynamic evolution of a tide-driven estuary on day two: you work on problems close to your own studies.
Hands-on trainers
Our engineers use WAQTEL and GAIA daily on industrial projects at Simvia. On site, they share best practices and the limits of each model in real time.
Close, hands-on supervision
Small group of trainees, with a trainer on hand to unblock anyone stuck during the hands-on work.
A critical reading of results, not just computations
You don't just learn to run the models: you learn to interpret, critique, and compare your results against standards or field observations.
Audience
- Industry: environmental and hydraulic engineers running water-quality or sediment-morphodynamics studies with openTELEMAC.
- Academia: researchers and PhD students studying aquatic ecosystems or sediment dynamics.
Prerequisites
Practice with TELEMAC-2D or TELEMAC-3D in hydrodynamics (setting up input data, running a computation). No prior experience with WAQTEL or GAIA is required.
Detailed programme
Day 1 - morning: WAQTEL, sub-modules in depth (lectures)
- General overview of the modules' coupling with TELEMAC-2D or TELEMAC-3D.
- Models and physics of each WAQTEL sub-module: the O2, BIOMASS and EUTRO modules (tracers, reaeration, photosynthesis, phytoplankton production), the MICROPOL module (micropollutant adsorption, deposition or erosion), the THERMIC module (thermodynamic exchanges at the free surface), the DEGRADATION LAWS module (tracer degradation via kinetic constants).
- How to use and configure the models provided with Telemac-2d or 3d.
Day 1 - afternoon: WAQTEL, sub-modules in depth (hands-on)
- Starting from TELEMAC-2D/3D hydrodynamic examples, adding tracers and coupling with WAQTEL sub-modules.
- Studying, critiquing and interpreting the coupled simulation results: capabilities and limits of the models.
- A concrete engineering scenario: dispersion of a micropollutant in a lake's bottom sediments: modeling free-surface thermal phenomena, initializing hydrodynamics, simulating the pollutant release, adding degradation laws, analyzing bed accumulation after one year.
Day 2 - morning: sediments and morphodynamics with GAIA (lectures)
- GAIA's corrective loop, the different sediment classes.
- Refinements to the advection-diffusion equation in 2D and corrective models, modeling sediment flocculation.
- Bed-transport models for non-cohesive sediments: hiding effect, corrections to the magnitude and direction of transport (slope effect, helical currents, skin friction...).
- Formation of bedforms in aquatic beds at various scales.
- Managing sediment classes and mixtures, consolidation models for cohesive sediments, active layer and bed stratigraphy, deposition and erosion.
- Practical use: .cli files, restarts, keywords, and the NESTOR module for bed deposition or dredging.
Day 2 - afternoon: sediments and morphodynamics with GAIA (hands-on)
- Picking up a pre-prepared estuary study: simulating tides without waves (coupling with TOMAWAC is not covered here).
- Coupling with GAIA: defining several sediment classes, initializing layers and stratigraphy.
- Simulating and analyzing sediment deposition zones.
- Adding a salinity tracer for the marine environment, and including a flocculation model to represent clay sedimentation near estuaries.
Practical details
- Dates
- December 7-8, 2027
- Duration
- 2 day(s)
- Location
- EDF Lab Paris-Saclay
- Language
- French
Available for online training or at the EDF Lab Saclay, depending on the dates
Performance indicators
- Trained participants
- -
- Attendance rate
- -
- Satisfaction rate
- -
- Success rate
- -
Accessibility
We are committed to making our training accessible to people with disabilities. Every situation is unique, so please contact us before registering so that we can study together the educational, technical or organisational adaptations that can be put in place.
More info
Louis Haurie
Holding a PhD in theoretical condensed matter physics, I am now a scientific computing engineer at Simvia. Following my doctorate, I transitioned into the simulation industry, which offered broader career prospects while allowing me to remain connected to physics. Passionate about understanding reality, I continue to be involved in various research and science communication projects in my spare time. Within Simvia, my background as a theoretician makes me versatile and present across all of our codes. With a strong sense for pedagogy, I produce most of the tutorial videos on Simvia's YouTube channel, with a particular focus on the clear and rigorous presentation of both conceptual physics and numerical aspects. With already one year of experience supporting industries working in hydraulic simulation, CFD and structural analysis, I have a solid understanding of the typical interests and use cases of OpenTELEMAC across various sectors.
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Included: lunches, coffee breaks, help installing the latest version of the code...