At the invitation of EnBW, the winning group of this year's construction competition was able to visit Machine 5 of the Power Plant Iffezheim on Friday, November 15, 2024, which is currently under revision.

The opportunity to see the Kaplan turbine with a runner diameter of 6.8 meters up close, and to hear detailed explanations about the operation and maintenance of the plant, provided them with a profound understanding of the complexity involved in such facilities.

It's not every day that one gets to witness the inner workings of a power plant, and this experience surely left a lasting impact on the students.

On 18 October, Mário Franca gave a seminar on “Integrating Floating Debris Transport Mechanics into Urban Flood Management“, at the EAWAG, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology , in Dübendorf.

In his presentation, Mário shared share insights from IWU-WB research, including results on the transport of plastics in rivers, the inception of motion of large debris during floods, and the inception of motion and transport of urban litter caused by pluvial floods.

These findings ultimately contribute to better management strategies for urban floodwaters and mitigation of the environmental impacts of plastic pollution.

See the presentation video here

On 26.-27.09.2024, Frank Seidel and Daniel Beetz represented IWU-WB at the Workshop for Model Design, Measurement Techniques and Analysis Methods in Experimental Hydraulics, organized by the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) and hosted by the BOKU University, Vienna.

Daniel Beetz gave a talk about practical experiences and theoretical backgrounds on Surface-PIV technique, and Frank Seidel contributed to the session about tips and tricks in hydraulics labs.

They enjoyed the open and honest discussions about issues and achievements in the daily work of labs all over the German-speaking region. Another highlight was a tour through the new hydraulics lab of the BOKU University, enabling model discharges up to 10 m³/s and 1:1 real-scale experiments

Our research on the transport of plastics in rivers was mentioned in the newsletter 2-2024 from the KIT Climate and Environment Center (KIT-ZKU).

Physically-based hydrological models can be understood as an upscaling exercise of hydrodynamic numerical models.

The latter have experienced great development in the past two decades, which together with the accelerated growth of computational power, now enable to tackle catchment and even regional scale hydrological modelling based on such tools.

The seminar video is online now

We were lucky with the weather on yesterday's student excursion to 2 small hydroelectric power plants as part of the lecture on hydropower engineering. The "Sägemühle" at the river Enz (2 Francis turbines, 1 hydroelectric screw) was extensively modernized and expanded a few years ago by the owner (Mr. Dieter Heilig). Besides the increase of efficiency resp. output, the focus was on improving the ecological conditions.

Just before the onward journey to the Upper Neckar, heavy rainfall began, but was replaced by glorious sunshine just in time for our arrival. At the Horb-Mühlen plant (1 Kaplan tube turbine, 1 hydroelectric screw), Mr. Frank Bürkle (E-Werk Stengle) answered questions regarding hydraulic and technical aspects, including the implemented horizontal rake (fish protection) and also gave insights into electricity marketing, network operation and control technology.

The 10th International Symposium on Environmental Hydraulics 2024 was organized by the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, 25 – 26 June.

Mario Franca presented orally the paper “On the turbulence nature of vegetated compound channels”, with Luiz Oliveira as first author, and co-authored by Johannes Janzen, Frederik Folke, Florian Wittmann, Nils P. Huber and Carlo Gualtieri. In this, results from the project “The hydraulics of four moments in the life of a floodplain forest” were presented, a collaboration between IWU-KIT, the University of Naples Federico II, in Naples, Italy, the Institute of Floodplain Ecology from KIT, the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, in Campo Grande, Brazil, and the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW), Germany. On the day before the conference, Mario Franca and Olivier Eiff from IWU invited to participate in a workshop on Very Large Scale Motions in open-channel flows.

On June 12th, the traditional Bauwettbewerb (building competition) took place in cooperation with the IWU-WB.

In this year's competition, teams of three to six people had to design and build an inlet and outlet structure for a hydrokinetic turbine. The aim was to achieve the highest possible energy yield. The five groups' designs were examined and evaluated under the critical eyes of the audience. The “Wingman” design was able to prevail. The innovation: In this design, “wings” unfolded as a result of the flow and thus directed more water through the turbine. The winners will visit the turbine in the Iffezheim Rhine power plant at the invitation of EnBW.

The 8th IAHR Europe Congress was held in LNEC, Lisbon, between 4th – 6th June and counted with more than 400 attendees.

Tim Jakobs presented his paper “Experimental Investigations of Thin Layer Surface Runoff on Natural Grassland”, co-authored by Peter Oberle and Mário Franca, and the presentation “Prevalence and physical properties of Urban Flood Drifters (UFDs) in extreme floods” given by Arnau Bayon corresponds to a paper co-authored by Daniel Valero and Mário Franca.

Mário Franca presided the Gerhard Jirka Award for Young Researchers that awards the best presentation given by a Young Professional during the biennial IAHR Europe Division Congress.

Last week, a delegation of IWU composed by Mário Franca, Olivier Eiff, Davide Vanzo and Christof Gromke, visited the University of Waterloo to foster for future collaborations in the water sector.

The visit included joint meetings, field visits, a Water Talk given by Mário Franca at the Water Institute and the participation in the Graduate Research on Water Technology and Hydraulics (GROWTH) Symposium where graduate students presented and discussed their work.

The Water Talk by Mário Franca by can be found here.

The conference focused on recent cutting edge geoscientific and technical works undertaken in the western Caucasus within the DAMAST and DAMAST-Transfer projects (2019-2024) funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research BMBF.

The DAMAST researchers from TSU, GTU, EIFER, Piewak & Partner, GHHD, GEORISK and KIT have been working on topics such as induced seismicity and reactivation of existing faults under the current stress field, risk mitigation, petrophysical analysis of rocks, sediment formation and transport in the reservoir and the regional deformation as well as the deformation of the Enguri High Arch dam as a response to variable water levels in the reservoir.

The IWU was represented by Stephan Hilgert and Andreas Kron.  Following the conference, in which representatives of various ministries from Georgia, the German embassy in Georgia and the BMBF took part, the participants were able to take a two-day field trip to see the Enguri high dam and the project area with the measuring installations.

This specialist event organized by the Water Management Association B.W. in cooperation with the KIT (Institute for Water and Environment; Institute for Soil and Rock Mechanics) was very well received.

Droughts and water shortages will also present us with major challenges here in Germany in the future. Weirs, dams and dykes play a decisive role in retaining and storing water ("sponge landscape").

Current regulations (e.g. DIN 19700, DWA-M 500) on the risk management of dam structures with regard to inspection and incidents as well as the consideration of operational aspects in the context of the in-depth inspection (VU) were discussed. A further contribution dealt with technical procedures for the maintenance of dams and dykes and highlighted their synergies with the need for maintenance for flood protection reasons and ecological concerns.

On February 2nd, 2024, students from the Master's program Water Science and Engineering and Bachelor's program in Civil Engineering visited the Iffezheim Rhein power plant for a four-hour tour.

Under the expert guidance of EnBW, the students visited the automatic control room, the machine room in which the turbines and generators are installed, the fishway and the weir.

The tour was a success as the students learned about the state-of-the-art technology used to operate the power plant and the importance of protecting the environment and fish populations.

On December 14th, 2023, we held our Christmas celebration in a cozy atmosphere at Theodor Rehbock Water Laboratory.

The party was a great opportunity to look back on the past year and look forward to the challenges ahead together.

We celebrated the festive season with a warm get-together, delicious food and happy moments.

At the invitation of the Lions Club Karlsruhe-Baden, Dr. Peter Oberle on December 7th in the Schlosshotel Karlsruhe the current flood strategy of the state of BW.

The flood disaster of 2021 showed that the current design values for protective measures need to be reconsidered and that the intensities of historical events must be used as a basis, especially for alarm and operational planning. The results of a simulation study (in cooperation with Hydron mbH) for the Neckar Valley are presented, in which the precipitation from the 2021 flood was projected onto the catchment area there. The discharges in the Neckar Valley are comparable to the historic flood of 1824, with devastating consequences for the industrial sites located in the river valley. The BW state government provides comprehensive information (including hazard maps, forecasts) and tools in order to be prepared for such extreme events. The lecture ends with an appeal to the municipalities and each individual to take advantage of the offers and face this challenge.

The Seminar aims at presenting aspects relevant for flood data collection and fast modelling of flood events.

The seminar video is online now

“Mega-rivers” are defined as those having an average annual discharge much larger than 10000 m³/s.

Following this definition, there are 10 mega-rivers on the Earth: Amazon, Congo, Orinoco, Yangtze, Madeira, Negro, Brahmaputra, Japura, Parana and Mississippi.

The seminar video is online now

From August 21st - 25th the 40th IAHR World Congress “Rivers – Connecting Mountains and Coasts” took place in Vienna, Austria (IAHR 2023). Researchers from all over the world presented their results to more than 1300 registered attendees.

Christin Kannen (Ecological benefits of bridge pier scours), Dr. Daniel Valero (Workshop: Towards more sustainable hydraulic structures), Luiz de Oliveira (Effect of geometric shapes on vegetated lateral cavities | Hydrocomplexity in vegetated lateral cavities) and Tim Jakobs (Novel experimental setup to analyse natural thin layer surface flow) represented the IWG with their contributions.

On 25.07.2023 the company outgoing of the department Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management took place.

First, we went by bike to a spot near the river Rhine called “Belle”. Fortunately the rainy weather could not affect the good mood, so everyone cycled on to the Rhine port steam power plant. Here the hard coal block RDK8 was shown to us, with focus on the inlet and outlet of the cooling water. Since the cooling tower is currently under revision, it was even possible to visit the cooling tower from the inside which was very impressive.

Back at the KIT, everyone enjoyed the relaxed barbecue together.

As part of the lecture on hydropower engineering, a student excursion to 2 small hydroelectric power plants was organized by Dr. Peter Oberle and M.Sc. Tim Jakobs.

First, Mr. Dieter Heilig presented the water power plant saw mill at the river Enz (2 Francis turbines). The focus was primarily on the modernization and expansion measures, which were implemented to face ecological requirements.

At the second plant situated at the Upper Neckar (1 Kaplanturbine), Mr. Bürkle (E-Werk Stengle) gave the students not only hydraulic issues such as the newly implemented horizontal rake (fish protection) but also insights into electricity marketing, grid operation and innovative control technologies.

Constructing a hydro power plant (HPP) is a complex project and a challenge for the contractual parties of the construction contract and all other stakeholders concerned.

The contract balancing the different interests shall minimize risks, can help to avoid pitfalls and cope with unforeseen situations which might endanger the overall goal.

The seminar video is online now

This talk explores the connectivity of river networks in a human-built hydro-environment.

The seminar video is online now

1st Webinar: Assessment of sedimentation in Enguri Reservoir

The seminar video is online now.

On the initiative of the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW), experts in the field of experimental hydraulics have been meeting regularly for international expert workshops since 2015. This year's meeting took place on April 3rd and 4th in Karlsruhe. The organizers were the BAW and the IWG at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

The seminar video is online now

On February 17th, 2023, students from the Master's program Water Science and Engineering and Bachelor's program in Civil Engineering visited the Iffezheim Rhein power plant for a four-hour tour.

Under the expert guidance of EnBW, the students visited the automatic control room, the machine room in which the turbines and generators are installed, the fishway and the weir.

The tour was a success as the students learned about the state-of-the-art technology used to operate the power plant and the importance of protecting the environment and fish populations.

On 28th November, Mário Franca participated on a webinar on “How to get a job”, a pre-event from the 3rd IAHR Young Professionals Congress (https://www.iahr.org).

He made a short presentation “Job in academy. When what they want is what you need”, which is available under the link below.

On October 1st, 2022, our colleague Dr. Peter Oberle celebrates his 25th service anniversary.

He has headed the "Numerical Analysis in Hydraulic Engineering" department since 2005 and, with his expertise, is an important pillar of the institute.

We are pleased to have such a valuable colleague in our ranks, both personally and professionally. Dear Peter, congratulations and we look forward to more successful years!

KIT researchers and partners suspect that much more plastic is transported in flowing waters than previously assumed and are developing new modelling approaches.

Prof. Mário Franca gave the opening lecture “River engineering; alluring by complexity”at the colloquium of the BAW „Flussbauliche Herausforderungen an der Elbe im Wandel der Zeit“.

On September 23rd, 2022, Günther Kühn celebrated 40 (!) years of service. On this occasion, Mario Franca presented him with the certificate of thanks signed by Ministerpräsident Winfried Minister Kretschmann. The entire institute congratulates and is happy to have a colleague who is so valuable in human and professional terms in its ranks.

On July 14th, 17 participants from the IWG, the IfH and colleagues from the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology at the ETH Zürich met for a one-day workshop on river engineering.

In 5 technical talks and a tour of the hydraulic laboratories at the KIT, current issues and methods in river engineering were discussed and possible research cooperations were explored.

Wood is an integral part of a river ecosystem and can be transported during both small and large floods. To manage wood transport in Alpine rivers, rack structures have been installed to retain wood upstream of endangered settlements or infrastructures.

The seminar video is online now.

From June 19th - 24th the 39th IAHR World Congress “From Snow To Sea” will take place in Granada, Spain (IAHR 2022). The International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR), founded in 1935, is a worldwide independent organisation of engineers and water specialists working in fields related to the hydro-environmental sciences and their practical application.

Researchers from all over the world present their results to more than 1200 registered attendees.

Prof. Dr. Mário Franca, Dr. Daniel Valero (Simulation of a Transient Gravity Current – Comparison of Four RANS Eddy-Viscosity Turbulence Models), Wendy Gonzalez Otero (Numerical Modelling of the Suspended Sediment Transport in a Reservoir under the Influence of Wind and Temperature) and Tim Kerlin (Parameterization of Flow Resistance for the Hydrodynamic Numerical Simulation of Sheetflow) will represent the IWG with their contributions.

Today M.Sc. Katrin Trautwein and M.Sc. Christin Kannen presented the profession of an hydraulic engineer in an online seminar as part of Girlsday 2022. 6 girls at the age of 9-16 years could get an insight into the profession of a researcher and hydraulic engineer. Katrin presented the project KaWaTech in Vietnam and Christin reported about a research project on hydromorphological modelling of scour processes.

On 22 March, Mário Franca did a presentation with the title “Flood risk management didn’t age well“ by invitation of the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology of ETHZ, in Zurich. Based on an analysis of the unfortunate flood events occurred in July 2021 in Northwestern Germany, and considering the demands which post-Anthropocene will bring in terms of extreme weather events, Mario Franca reflected on which evolution is needed to better evaluate flood hazard.