Head:
Address:
Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT)
Institute for Water and Environment
- Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management -
Kaiserstrasse 12
76131 Karlsruhe
Phone: +49 (0)721 - 608-44418
Email: wasserbau∂iwu.kit.edu
Visiting address:
The challenges facing water managers and engineers nowadays are manifold, complex, and require cross disciplinary approaches. These challenges include the safety of hydraulic natural and built systems, ageing infrastructures, pollution, guarantee of energy and food security, sustainable development and safety of urban environment, ecological feedbacks and an uncertain future.
Our group develops research towards engineering solutions for the design, the planning and the implementation of sustainable water infrastructures prepared for global change. We investigate the mechanics of flowing water and its interaction with key elements of a river basin such as sediments, dissolved matter, gases, living organisms and people. More specifically, the group is committed to develop research on four main topics: sustainable and secure water for supply, food and energy; adaptive and multi-functional hydraulic systems; healthy rivers; and geophysical processes in rivers and lakes.
The guided walk along the Pfinz River on Sunday, May 17, met with an enthusiastic response from the public. At six different stations, Dr. Peter Oberle provided a highly engaging and vivid explanation of the background behind current river restoration projects, as well as their significance for both ecology and flood protection. The tour clearly demonstrated the immense amount of engineering expertise and scientific research that underpins the measures taken to enhance the river environment. The participants learned many interesting things about funnel groynes, fish shelters, flow resistance, and morphodynamics—as well as political frameworks and construction-related restrictions. The educational portion of the walk concluded at the Schnellermühle hydroelectric plant and its technical fish ladder. Special thanks go to Petra Schwab, member of the Municipal Council, for initiating this successful event format!
Last 13th May we had the pleasure of welcoming once again students and professors from the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education to our institute. The visitors, led by professors Leonardo Alfonso and Arlex Sanchez Torres, were part of the Erasmus Mundus MSc in Flood Risk Management and the MSc in Water and Sustainable Development programs. The visit began with a guided tour of the Theodor Rehbock Hydraulics Laboratory led by Frank Seidel, where students explored the large-scale hydraulic facilities and ongoing experimental projects, followed by an introduction to the activities and structure of KIT and IWU by Mário Franca. The visit concluded with an informal stroll across the KIT campus.
The RETURN project (2023–2026) is a €120 million research initiative funded by the Italian Ministry
of Research through NextGenerationEU funds. This extended partnership between universities and
private companies aims to strengthen research chains focused on environmental, natural, and
anthropogenic risks at the national level, while promoting their integration into European and global
strategic value chains.
Computational modeling of flow and sediment transport in surface waters started from the 1950s.
However, due to the constraint of computer speed and capacity, the early models had to be simplified
and based on equilibrium transport, single-mode and single-sized approaches. In the last decades,
fast advances in computer technology have allowed many of those simplifications to be removed;
thus, many multidimensional, non-equilibrium, multiple-sized total-load sediment transport models
have been developed for more realistic representation and reliable prediction of complex
morphodynamic processes in riverine and coastal waters.
After almost 25 years at the IWU, our colleague Hans Schleisiek (centre right in the photo) is taking his well-deserved retirement.
As a systems administrator, he has, over the years, managed the entire IT infrastructure of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering in an exemplary manner, demonstrating technical expertise, collegiality and reliability. His successor, Ekrem Canavar (pictured left), will take on this key role in future.
We wish Hans all the best for this new chapter in his life and warmly welcome Ekrem to the team!
As part of over 22,000 attendees at the European Geoscience Union (EGU) General Assembly 2026 in Vienna, Dr. Ali Pourzangbar, Dr. James Lofty and Fabian Knepper represented IWU-WB and showcased their current research and experiments. Ali Pourzangbar presented his work on machine-learning for municipal flood severity mapping, James Lofty presented his results on the geometric and physical properties, as well as the setting and rising dynamics, of river litter, and Fabian Knepper introduced his ongoing development of a QM system for flow modelling. The program combined multidisciplinary talks, poster sessions and presentations, and created many occasions for networking with researchers from Europe and beyond.
Abstracts for all contributions are available here:
Ali Pourzangbar:
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-14058
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3576
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5676
James Lofty:
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17376
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17862
Fabian Knepper:
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16777
