The trial will start next week and is part of the studies ahead of the High Water Protection Program HWBP. In the so-called POV Macrostability, water boards, Rijkswaterstaat and knowledge institutions are working together to find smarter, and cheaper measures to reinforce the planned 110o kilometers of dike within the High Water Protection Program.
The dike stabilizer is a variant of the folding anchor that JLD from Edam has been marketing for more than ten years. It is already widely used to keep construction pits and sheet pile structures open. The anchor does not work with a grout plug, but with a steel foot that flips over when the tie rod is pulled. Almost like a ship's anchor, but deep in the ground instead of at the bottom of a waterway.
Three years back, a practical trial was already successfully conducted in Purmerend with the stabilizer, which is mainly intended to provide inward stability. With light equipment, the anchor is pushed with the tip downwards right through the potential slip circle. The anchor is flexible and can follow shrinkage and swell movements of the dike body.
