About Yorick Broekema

Yorick connects fundamental scientific knowledge of the interaction between water, soil and structure with practical applications in hydraulic and offshore engineering. Projects involving complex interaction between 3D flow, structures and soil are right up his street.

Yorick has a background in hydraulic and coastal engineering by education, with a double MSc degree from Delft University of Technology and the National University of Singapore. After performing his MSc thesis internship at Deltares, Yorick pursued a PhD degree at the TU in Delft in Environmental Fluid Mechanics. During his PhD, Yorick investigated the dynamics of scour hole development at the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier in close collaboration with Rijkswaterstaat. Through this collaboration, he gained ample experience in combining complex technical content with practical engineering consequences and translating this into advice for policy makers. One of the key findings of his PhD work was the discovery of a positive feedback mechanism where scour development can trigger additional scour development for specific flow conditions.

Yorick joined the Harbour, Coastal and Offshore Engineering department of Deltares in July 2019 as a researcher/advisor with a specific focus on scour and scour protection around offshore wind foundations. Over the years, Yorick has gained ample experience in working as both technical consultant/researcher and project manager in complex, multi-disciplinary projects in the areas of offshore engineering and hydraulic structures. This often involves assessments on scour and scour mitigation measures, either via simplified analytical methods, physical modelling or numerical modelling. Yorick was responsible for managing the concluding phase (~2 years) of Joint Industry Project HaSPro.

As technical specialist Yorick is leading Deltares’ Offshore Scour & Scour protection discipline team that consists of ~10-15 people since early 2021. As team-lead, Yorick is striving to create an environment that enables personal growth for all team members in an inclusive and open atmosphere, whilst delivering high-quality results to our clients and partners. It is his personal ambition to strengthen the position of the team with academic partners and other research institutes. In addition, Yorick is coordinating the Offshore Energy portfolio within Deltares and he is the Offshore Wind R&D program manager for Deltares’ strategic research planning. This role involves, amongst other things, the positioning of the research that Deltares is performing in a way that resonates with the intended users and to maximize the impact that Deltares can make.

Relevant links:

• Handbook of scour and cable protection methods
• Offshore wind energy
• The turbulent waters of the Eastern Scheldt

Yorick is also part of:

IAHR Working Group on Scour Research