|
Click here
to download electronic version(PDF 182Kb)
|
IAHR Research Agenda 1999
Bridging the gap between Research and Application
Price: Free to Members/Non-Members Euro
30, 40 pages, softcover, publication date: 1999.
Our Research Agenda
The Agenda is a state-of-the-art report of current research across
the whole hydraulics spectrum and where future research investigation
is envisaged - from the perspective of the research community.
It was compiled from reports of the 16 Technical Sections of IAHR,
and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Task Force
and in particular the Chairman, Andreas Müller, for his considerable
effort in bringing the report to fruition. The document aims at
stimulating discussion (1) among researchers and (2) among researchers
and professionals within IAHR and (3) to communicate IAHR member
activities to the wider community and to stimulate collaboration
with other organisations. Based on these discussions the research
agenda needs regular and timely revisions. The current Agenda is
the second edition, and has been completely revised since the first
issue of 1993.
The IAHR-Research Agenda demonstrates the diversity of the activities
of the IAHR-Technical Sections. They range from basic methodologies,
including fluid mechanics, hydroinformatics, probabilistic methods,
experimental methods and instrumentation, to their applications
in hydraulic machinery, nuclear power stations, water resources
and urban water management as well as in fluvial-, maritime-, groundwater-
and eco-hydraulics and in ice engineering.
This diversity of problems and ideas cannot be summarised adequately,
however some common themes can be highlighted which appear in many
of the section reports.
- Hydraulic Research is faced with the full complexity of natural
phenomena including non-Newtonian fluids, turbulence, two-phase
flow transport phenomena, interfacial problems, non-linear interactions
and water quality problems. This complexity calls for an interdisciplinary
collaboration of natural and engineering science.
- The phenomena of interest cover all scales from the molecular
level through pore size effects and laboratory scales up to large-scale
processes in river basins and oceans. A major research problem
is the scaling up of concepts and results found at small scales
to larger scales.
- Hydroinformatics, the use of information and communication technology
in hydraulics, encapsulates and integrates engineering methods
in software systems. It provides powerful methods to engineers
and rational solutions to policy makers. However, the lack of
sufficient databases for calibration often hinders the application
of these methods. This calls for adequate instrumentation and
experimental methods, and an international co-operation for the
acquisition and exchange of data. The use of the sophisticated
tools of Hydroinformatics requires adequate training for the interpretation
and evaluation of the results. IAHR wants to continue its effort
for validation of software packages.
- The conflicting requirements of exploitation of water resources
for a growing population and the protection of the natural environment
are a common theme of many sections. Sustainable use of water
calls for adequate data and understanding of the resources, efficient
and safe design and operation of hydraulic systems, and a rational
conflict management of riparian rights. Hydraulic engineering
increasingly involves also the hazards posed by water including
risk analysis, disaster prevention and mitigation.
If you would like a copy of the Agenda, or you would like additional
copies, please contact the Secretariat in Madrid.
 order
through e-mail here
|
