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Hydraulics and Environment Department Hydraulics and Environment Department

Francisco Sancho

Francisco Sancho
Phone: 218 443 664

Professional Situation

Research Officer

Academic and Scientific Degrees

  • (1999) Equivalence to the Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon Technical University, Portugal.
  • (1998) Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering, University of Delaware (USA).
  • (1991) Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (Fluid Dynamics), Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon Technical University, Portugal.
  • (1987) "Licenciatura" in Civil Engineering, (specialization in Hydraulics), Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon Technical University, Portugal.

Functions and Relevant Public Offices

  • Researcher at the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC): Research Officer (1999 -...);. Research Assistant (1998-1999); PhD scholar (1991-1997); Trainee Research Assistant (1987-1991).
  • Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra: partial time appointment (2002 –2011); full time appointment (2000-2002).
  • Research Assistant, University of Delaware, (1993-1997).

Areas of Research / Interest

Wave propagation, nearshore and surf-zone hydrodynamics; Sediment transport and morphological modelling in coastal areas; Coastal processes and conceptual modelling; Numerical model development and programming; Physical modelling setup, direction of experiments, and data acquisition; Monitoring of coastal state parameters and morphological changes; Coastal hazard, vulnerability and risk assessment and mapping.

Research and Professional Activity

Responsibility and/or participation in more than 20 consultancy, application-oriented projects, the majority being in Portugal. Within these projects, his main activities have been characterising and evaluating coastal engineering problems, coastal hydrodynamics, sediment dynamics, coastal vulnerability assessment, and proposal and testing of several coastal protection and rehabilitation measures.Project manager, researcher and/or team coordinator in several EU Framework Programme I&D Projects (MAST-G8M, MAST-INDIA, FP5-HUMOR, FP5-SANDPIT, FP5-TMR/LSF, FP6-HYDRALAB-III, and FP7-HYDRALAB-IV), Interreg funded projects (ANCORIM) and Portuguese Science Foundation research projects (over 10)

Scientific Orientation

  • Ph.D. supervision: Tiago Abreu (2008-2011); Lígia Pinto (2004-2010).
  • MSc. supervision: Ana Beirão (2014-2015); Rita Cavique (2014-2015); João Rocha (2014-2015); David Heitor (2012-2013); Andreia Lourenço (2010-2012); Jorge Gadelho (2009-2010); Fernando Santos (2007-2008); Tiago Abreu (2005-2007); Paulo Gaspar (2001-2003).

Relevant Publications

  • Khan-Mozahedy, A.B.M., J.J. Muñoz-Perez, M.G. Neves, F. Sancho, R. Cavique, 2016. Mechanics of the scouring and sinking of submerged structures in a mobile bed: A physical model study. Coastal Engineering, Volume 110, April 2016, Pages 50-63, ISSN 0378-3839, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coastaleng.2016.01.002.
  • Abreu, T., Michallet, H., Silva, P.A., Sancho, F., van der A, D.A. and Ruessink, B.G., 2013. Bed shear stress under skewed and asymmetric oscillatory flows. Coastal Engineering 73, 1-10.
  • Pinto, L., Fortunato, A.B., Zhang, Y., Oliveira, A., Sancho, F.E.P., 2012. Development and validation of a three-dimensional morphodynamic modelling system for non-cohesive sediments. Ocean Modelling 57-58, 1-14.
  • Sancho, F., Abreu, T., D’Alessandro, F., Tomasicchio, G.R. and P.A. Silva, 2011. Surf hydrodynamics in front of collapsing coastal dunes. Journal of Coastal Research, SI 64 (Proceedings of the 11th International Coastal Symposium), pp. 144-148, Szczecin (Poland), ISSN 0749-0208.
  • Ruessink, B. G., H. Michallet, T. Abreu, F. Sancho, D. A. Van der A, J. J. Van der Werf, and P. A. Silva, 2011. Observations of velocities, sand concentrations, and fluxes under velocity-asymmetric oscillatory flows. J. Geophys. Res. 116, C03004.
  • Tomasicchio, G.R., Sánchez-Arcilla, A., D'Alessandro, F., Ilic, S., James, M.R., Sancho, F., Fortes, C.J., Schüttrumpf, H, 2011. Large-scale experiments on dune erosion processes. Journal of Hydraulic Research 49:sup1, 20-30.
  • Silva, P.A., Abreu, T., A. van der A, D., Sancho, F., Ruessink, B.G., van der Werf, J., & Ribberink, J.S., 2011. Sediment transport in nonlinear skewed oscillatory flows: Transkew experiments. Journal of Hydraulic Research 49:sup1, 72-80.
  • Abreu, T., Silva, P.A., Sancho, F., Temperville, A., 2010. Analytical approximate wave form for asymmetric waves. Coastal Engineering 57, 656–667.
  • Falqués, A., N. Dodd, R. Garnier, F. Ribas, L.C. MacHardy, P. Larroudé and D. Calvete, F. Sancho, 2008. Rhythmic surf zone bars and morphodynamic self-organization. Coastal Engineering 55, 622-641.
  • Ortega-Sánchez, M., Fachin, S., Sancho, F., Losada, M., 2008. Relation between beachface morphology and wave climate at Trafalgar beach (Cádiz, Spain). Geomorphology 99, 171-185.

Other scientific and technical Activities

  • Member of the Organising Committee of several scientific events, standing out: 6th International Short Course/Conference on Applied Coastal Research (2013), Jornadas Portuguesas de Engenharia Costeira e Portuária (2011), 31st Congress of the International Navigation Association PIANC (2006), 29th International Conference on Coastal Engineering (2004).
  • Reviewer of scientific papers for: Coastal Engineering, Maritime Engineering, Revista de Gestão Costeira Integrada, Recursos Hídricos.

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