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.
Within the frame of the Girls’ Day 2026, IWU-WB contributed with the workshop “Design rivers, protect nature, optimize structures – Become a hydraulic engineering expert!” to a versatile program at KIT. After a short introductory round to get to know each other and everyone’s interest in the topic, we discovered diverse questions of hydraulic engineering by different physical models in our Theodor-Rehbock-Riverlab. Amongst, we found out how to secure our dams, why bridges are critical structures during extreme floods, how we can help fish to pass dam and weir structures, and how rivers interact with the landscape. A big ‘thank you’ to all participants for your active participation, curiosity, openness, and interest!
Amazonian floodplains sustain unique ecosystems with a complex biogeographical history intrinsically related to the evolution of Amazonian drainage system and the annual flooding pulse. The uniqueness of these ecosystems, which are directly impacted by the construction of dams that disrupt the flood pulse, is often ignored both in studies about Amazonian ecology and evolution and in dam impact assessment and monitoring.
Link to the seminar PDF file
On 30–31 March 2026, a joint workshop organized by IWU-KIT and Imperial College London took place in Karlsruhe, bringing together experimentalists and numerical modelers to discuss plastic transport processes in rivers.
The workshop gathered around 15 researchers from universities and research institutions across Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Norway, Spain, and Italy. The meeting focused on improving the link between empirical observations and modelling approaches.
Contributions ranged from laboratory experiments on macroplastic motion and transport to numerical frameworks for simulating particle dynamics in shallow-water systems.
The event fostered collaboration and helped identify key needs for future research, highlighting the importance of continued interaction between empiricists and modelers in this field.
Urban flooding represents a significant threat to densely populated areas. To help address this issue, integrated frameworks for flood risk assessment can be developed by combining hydraulic modeling and experimental evidence.
In this context, starting from the hydraulic modeling of the Misa River microtidal estuary (Italy) and leveraging field measurements for model calibration, the impact of river–sea interactions on urban hydrodynamics is assessed.
The seminar video is online now!
Link to the seminar PDF file
The Wasserbaukolloquium is one of the most prestigious annual events dedicated to hydraulic engineering topics. At this year’s meeting, Andreas Kron delivered a talk titled „Strategien zur Reduktion unnatürlicher Abflussschwankungen an Fließgewässern.“ Studies were presented that examine the causes and effects of flow fluctuations generated by the operation of hydropower plants. The findings indicate that integrated management strategies are required—strategies that consider energy production as well as ecological and shipping concerns. In the long run, such measures can not only enhance the stability of the flow regime but also improve resilience to extreme climatic events.
On 12 March, Mário Franca gave a seminar titled “L’eau dans un monde qui change” at the Forum « Le Grand Switch », organized by ITI Switch | Sustainability of Water and Cities, the Interdisciplinary Thematic Institute of the University of Strasbourg.
He briefly presented highlights of our work and shared some personal reflections on what hinders us from bridging the implementation gap when it comes to adapting to climate change. Later, he took part in a round-table discussion under the umbrella theme Water & Climate, together with researchers, students, stakeholders, and the general public. It was a great moment of exchange across disciplines and sectors.
See the presentation here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/401878781_L'eau_dans_un_monde_qui_change
Link to the event: https://switch.unistra.fr/evenements/forum-le-grand-switch/
