Before joining KIT, Mário Franca was Full Professor at TUDelft and UNESCO-IHE Delft, and held academic senior positions at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), New University of Lisbon and University of Coimbra.

With more than 25 years of experience as a consultant in hydraulic engineering, he has contributed to and directed applied projects on emergency planning for natural and dam-break floods, dam design, hydropower, water supply, river engineering, and safety of hydraulic infrastructures. He is an active member of IAHR, EGU and AGU and has been Associate Editor from Water Resources Research (AGU) since 2016.

Mário's research efforts are generally dedicated to studying the mechanics of flowing water and its interactions with riverine non-organic, organic and anthropic elements.

His research interests include flood hazard and risk analysis, river engineering, safety of hydraulic structures, turbulent processes in open channel flows, sediment transport, fluvial hydro-morphodynamics, density currents and non-conventional hydropower production.

Umweltphysik/Energie

Wasserbau und Wasserwirtschaft I

River Engineering

Design of Hydraulic Structures

Landscape and River Morphology

Transport Processes in Rivers

2024

Cattapan A., Gurini A., Paron P., Ballio F. & Franca M.J. A method for segmentation of pebble images in the presence of shadows. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 2024;1–11, https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.6027

Valero D., Bayón A. & Franca M.J. Urban Flood Drifters (UFDs): Onset of Movement. Science of the Total Environment, 2024, 927, 171568

Lofty J., Valero D., Moreno-Rodenas A., Belay B.S., Wilson C.A.M.E., Ouro P. & Franca M.J. On the vertical structure of non-buoyant plastics in turbulent transport. Water Research Volume 254, 121306

Bayón, A., Valero, D., Franca, M.J. Urban flood drifters (UFD): Identification, classification and characterisation. Journal of Flood Risk Management, 2024, 17(3), e13002

2023

Lofty J., Valero D., Wilson C.A.M.E. Franca M.J. & Ouro P. Microplastic and natural sediment in bed load saltation: Material does not dictate the fate. Water Research Volume 243, 120329.

Ludwig P., Ehmele F., Franca M.J., Mohr S., Caldas-Alvarez A., Daniell J. E., Ehret U., Feldmann H., Hundhausen M., Knippertz P., Küpfer K., Kunz M., Mühr B., Pinto J. G., Quinting J., Schäfer A. M., Seidel F. & Wisotzky C.  A multi-disciplinary analysis of the exceptional flood event of July 2021 in central Europe. Part 2: Historical context and relation to climate change, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1287–1311.

Mohr S., Ehret U., Kunz M., Ludwig P., Caldas-Alvarez A., Daniell J. E., Ehmele F., Feldmann H., Franca M.J., Gattke C., Hundhausen M., Knippertz P., Küpfer K., Mühr B., Pinto J. G., Quinting J., Schäfer A. M., Scheibel M., Seidel F. & Wisotzky C. A multi-disciplinary analysis of the exceptional flood event of July 2021 in central Europe. Part 1: Event description and analysis, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 525–551.

2022

Valero, Daniel, Biruk S. Belay, Antonio Moreno-Rodenas, Matthias Kramer, and Mário J. Franca. The key role of surface tension in the transport and quantification of plastic pollution in rivers. Water Research 226 (2022): 119078.

Crosato, A., A. Grissetti-Vázquez, F. Bregoli, and M. J. Franca. Adaptation of river channels to a wetter or drier climate: Insights from the Lower Pilcomayo River, South America. Journal of Hydrology 612 (2022): 128254.

Panthi, Manisha, Aaron A. Lee, Sudesh Dahal, Amgad Omer, Mário J. Franca, and Alessandra Crosato Effects of sediment flushing operations versus natural floods on Chinook salmon survival. Scientific reports 12, no. 1 (2022): 1-17, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19294-2.

John Conallin, Nora Van Cauwenbergh, Nicolette Duncan, Win Win Zin, Zau Lunn, Htike Htike, Greg Martin, Thom Bogaard, Mário J. Franca; Supporting evidence-based decision-making: Capacity Building through Research. Water Policy 1 May 2022; 24 (5): 827–838. https://doi.org/10.2166/wp.2022.265

Paudel, S., Singh, U., Crosato, A., & Franca, M. J. (2022). Effects of initial and boundary conditions on gravel-bed river channel formation. Advances in Water Resources, 104256. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.ADVWATRES.2022.104256

Franca, M. J., Valero, D., & Liu, X. (2021). Turbulence and Rivers. In Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences (2nd ed.). Elsevier Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-818234-5.00135-8

Juez, C., & Franca, M. J. (2022). Physical Impacts of Sand Mining in Rivers and Floodplains. Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, 225–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819166-8.00211-5

Franca, M. J., Juez, C., Kurniawan, A., & Zemann, M. (2022). Case Studies of Sediment Mining Activity. Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, 239–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-819166-8.00194-8

2021

Qatarneh A., Dupont C., Michel J., Simonin L., Beda A., Ghimbeu C.M., Ruiz-Villanueva V., da Silva Perez D., Piégay H. & Franca M.J. River driftwood pretreated via hydrothermal carbonization as a sustainable source of hard carbon for Na-ion battery anodes. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 9(6), p.106604.

Qatarneh A.F., Dupont C., Ruiz-Villanueva V., da Silva Perez D., Ashour R.M., Piégay H. & Franca M.J. Evaluating river driftwood as a feedstock for biochar production. Waste Management, 134, pp.197-205.

Calamita E., Siviglia A., Gettel G.M., Franca M.J., Winton R.S., Teodoru C.R., Schmid M. & Wehrli B. Unaccounted CO2 leaks downstream of a large tropical hydroelectric reservoir. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118 (25) e2026004118

Pradhan A, Marence M. & Franca M.J. The adoption of Seawater Pump Storage Hydropower Systems increases the share of renewable energy production in Small Island Developing States. Renewable Energy, Vol. 177, pp 448-460

Venuleo S., Pokrajac D., Tokyay T., Constantinescu G., Schleiss A.J. & Franca M.J. Parameterization and results of SWE for gravity currents are sensitive to the definition of depth. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 147(5), 04021016

McKie C.W., Juez C., Plumb B.D., Annable W.K., & Franca M.J. How large immobile sediments in gravel bed rivers impact sediment transport and bed morphology. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 147 (2), 04020096

Ruangpan L., Vojinovic Z., Plavšić J., Doong D.-J., Bahlmann T., Alves A., Tseng L.-H., Randelović A., Todorović A., Kocic Z., Beljinac V., Wu M.-H., Lo W.-C., Perez-Lapeña B. & Franca M.J. Incorporating stakeholders’ preferences into a multi-criteria framework for planning large-scale Nature-Based Solutions. Ambio, doi: 10.1007/s13280-020-01419-4

2020

Stähly S., Franca M.J., Robinson C.T. & Schleiss A.J. Erosion, transport and deposition of a sediment replenishment under flood conditions. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, doi: 10.1002/esp.4970

Magaju D., Cattapan A. & Franca M.J. Identification of run-of-river hydropower investments in data scarce regions using global data. Energy for Sustainable Development 58, 30-41

Plumb B.D., Juez C., Annable W.K., McKie C.W. & Franca M.J. The impact of hydrograph variability and frequency on sediment transport dynamics in a gravel-bed flume. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, doi: 10.1002/esp.4770

Ouro P., Juez C. & Franca M.J. Drivers for mass and momentum exchange between the main channel and river bank lateral cavities. Advances in Water Resources, 137,103511