MEASURE AND MONITOR THE COASTLINE?
The protected dunes along the Dutch coast are constantly threatened by coastal erosion. Nowadays, breakers come rolling in where the Agnes Church once stood in Egmond aan Zee in the late seventeenth century. The Directorate-General for Public Works (Rijkswaterstaat) and the National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management decided in 1990 that the Dutch coastline should remain as it was in those days and to defeat any erosion by means of sand replenishment. But how does one measure and monitor a coastline that changes from one day to the next?
WATER AND BEACH PROFILER
Rijkswaterstaat, in collaboration with leading institutes in Belgium, England and America, decided to build the ‘WESP’, fully known as the ‘Water And Beach Profiler’. This is a fourteen (!) meters high vehicle manned by one researcher in a cab high above the sea and which drives at a speed of 15 km/h on the seabed.
Using high-tech measuring systems and online connections with fixed points on the shore, currents and sand movements are accurately measured. But what kind of wheels should you install on such an extraordinary vehicle? Which rims, which profile, what width? And how easily will the vehicle topple over if it is fitted with pneumatic tyres?
(Source photos; https://beeldbank.rws.nl Rijkswaterstaat)
THE SPECIALISTS
During its construction the people of Rijkswaterstaat soon found their way to Holland Tyre due to its specialistic knowledge of atypical tyres, wheels and applications. Ever since its establishment Holland Tyre has been well known for its expertise, being solution-orientation, large stock and service.
Klaas Smid: „This was no ordinary job. We considered it a great honour to be given the opportunity to solve this problem for Rijkswaterstaat. We soon realised that air-filled tyres would be detrimental to the vehicle’s stability. In the surf, a wind force 6 can be quite strong. After considering various options, the solution was: seawater! Seawater has the best specific gravity and behaviour for this particular use. You just have to know how to get it in.”
(Source photos; https://beeldbank.rws.nl Rijkswaterstaat)
A CELEBRITY ON THE COAST
The WESP attracted a lot of attention from beach walkers and became a celebrity on the Dutch coast. The WESP received a lot of media attention in national newspapers as well as in the tyre trade journals. The industry and of course Holland Tyre’s customer network followed the news about this exceptional vehicle and the role of the specialists in it. „The extremer the application, the more our specialists are in their element”, concludes Klaas Smid.
Do you wish to know more about this specialism or if you have any questions about a specific application, please do not hesitate to contact us. We would like to contribute to the solution of your tyre and/or wheel problem!
