Dr. Marence graduated in Civil Engineering at the University of Zagreb, Croatia in 1987, completing his MSc thesis in structural modeling of frames on elastic foundations. Following this, he undertook his Ph.D. in Tunneling and Underground Works at the University of Innsbruck, Austria in 1993. His thesis was entitled ”Numerical modeling of rock bolts considering rock joint movement”.
Since 1994 he has worked as a consultant engineer at AFRY Austria GmbH (former Poyry and Verbundplan) in Salzburg, Austria. During this period he has worked on the design of many international hydropower projects in Austria, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Buthan, Lao, Thailand, Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden, India, etc. Since 2009 he has been the head of the tunneling department and working as a hydropower and dam expert.
In September 2009 he joined IHE Delft as an Associate Professor in Hydraulic Engineering and River Basin Development. He is responsible for Storage and Hydropower within the core of Hydraulic Engineering and River Basin Development. Dr. Marence's main research and training interests lie in dam and reservoir development and the design of hydropower schemes and structures and he is the author of more than 60 research publications published in peer-reviewed journals and books.
Research Summary
Dr. Marence research interests are in dam and hydropower topics in general. In dam design and construction, the research is concentrated on the topics connected with the design of earth fill, concrete and arch dams. The topics go from analytical and numerical modeling of different types and parts of the dams, water and GHG footprint of dams and reservoirs and the influence of climate change on dams and reservoirs. Sustainable design, operation and maintenance of the dams, reservoirs and hydropower plants are an important part of environmental and social friendly water storage and renewable energy production. In the hydropower area research is on safe and economical power waterway designs such as numerical modeling of unlined and shotcrete lined tunnels and shafts, the estimation of the hydropower potential of ungauged rivers or rivers with fewer data available and solutions for low head hydropower generation. The special topic is the development of the solutions for hydropower installed in hydraulic systems that are operated without any energy generation. Such systems represent "hidden treasure" and could be used for the additional energy generation, without or with minimal additional environmental and social impact using comparable less financial resources using existing infrastructure. Also, hydropower potential of low lands such as the Netherlands have been considered and solutions for low head hydropower in existing weirs and shiplocks in the province of Gelderland have been investigated together with possible solutions.
Publications
A complete list of publications can be found in Google Scholar.