order through e-mail here

Hydraulic transients with water column separation
Synthesis report of the IAHR working group 1971-1991
ISBN 90-805649-1-5, Price: US Dollar / Euro 150; Members Price: US Dollar / Euro 120, 780 pages, softcover, publication date: 12 April 2000.

In the past 20 years, the problem of hydraulic transients involving interruption of the water column has attracted widespread attention from hydraulic researchers all over the world. An international working group was set up, on Italian initiative, in 1971. This same group subsequently became an official Working Group of the International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research [IAHR] in 1978.

At the closing of the activity its members include experts from 12 nations. The group has organised 9 round-table discussions with more than 100 scientific reports presented and discussed. Subject dealt with included:

• bubble nucleation and dynamics
• two-phase flows
• mathematical models of the basic physical phenomena
• numerical simulation of transients in industrial circuits
• instrumentation
• results of prototype measurements (recording of transients in industrial circuits)
• results of test on reduced-scale physical models

Considerable interest in the activities and outcome of the IAHR Working Group was shown by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the British Hydraulic Research Association (BHRA), Centro Tecnologico Hidraulico of São Paulo, Brazil (CTH), Laboratorio Nacional de Engenheria Civil (LNEC) and the Instituto Tecnico Superior of Lisbon, Portugal.

This report consists of a series of separate and self-contained treatises designed for independent reading dealing with the following subjects:

• definition of the debatable topic
• hydraulic plant design and verification procedures
• mathematical modelling and numerical analysis
• experimental test on physical models and actual plants
• data and diagrams
• computer codes
• final comments on hydraulic plant design procedures

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