Herman Kernkamp

Numerical and hydrodynamic modelling

+31(0)88335 8521

herman.kernkamp@deltares.nl

Mr. Herman Kernkamp is the lead developer of the D-Flow Flexible Mesh (D-Flow FM) computational engine of the Delft3D Flexible Mesh Suite (Delft3D FM).

He was trained as maritime engineer at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and performed his masters thesis in 1988 at Delft Hydraulics (Deltares) on the subject of numerical modelling of harbour seiches. His first project at Delft Hydraulics was development of a numerical model of the Rotterdam port, later to be used for investigating the effects of the surge barrier ‘Maeslantkering’ on seiches. In order to accurately capture the harbour outlines, a curvilinear grid was made. Generating such a grid was a cumbersome task and he developed an interactive orthogonal grid generation program RGFGRID, that is still applied today by many users of our well known hydrodynamics program Delft3D.

Equally important for hydrodynamic modelling is the accurate representation of the bathymetry in the numerical model. He developed a program especially tuned for this task called QUICKIN, also used widely  today. After several years of projects involving hydrodynamical modelling in 2D and 3D, at home and abroad, he developed jointly with Prof. Stelling of TU Delft the program Delft-FLS, a 2D hydrodynamics code especially suited for overland flows and flooding studies. The functionality of this program was later imported into the FLOW module (1D2D) of the SOBEK 2 Suite, that was maintained and developed further by Mr. Kernkamp from 2004 on.

In 2007 he started with Prof. Stelling the development of our next generation hydrodynamics system, the Delft3D FM Suite. The aim of this modelling system is to incorporate 1D, 2D and 3D functionality in one system, based upon the accurate and robust numerical schemes for which FLOW module (1D2D) of the SOBEK 2 Suite  and the Delft3D-FLOW (2D-3D) module of the Delft3D 4 Suite are famous. Also, we aim at more flexibility in setting up models by application of a unstructured mesh system, that allows for triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons and 1D cells.

Working experience

2008 - Present Deltares Software specialist.
2004 - 2008 WL Delft Hydraulics Senior advisor Software Department
1994 - 2003 WL Delft Hydraulics Senior Advisor Marine and Coastal Management Division
1988 - 1994 WL Delft Hydraulics Hydrodynamic modelling engineer, Estuaries and Seas Division