Visit of BOKU River Lab

On 17 June 2024 we were invited for a visit to the new Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and River Research (IWA) of BOKU UNIVERSITY, created under the direction of Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Helmut Habersack, with its BOKU River Lab.

The Institute comprises the following research focus:
Integral hydraulic engineering, with the core elements: water use - water protection - protection from the water. These include the research areas and expertise in renewable energy with sustainable hydropower, integrated flood risk management, (eco-) hydraulics, river research and hydraulic engineering, with an emphasis on sediment management and river morphology, river restoration as well as waterway infrastructure for inland navigation.
The methods include field measurements, numerical modeling and physical models based on theoretical and applied basic research. The new hydraulic engineering laboratory significantly improves the research opportunities. There, a worldwide unique discharge of 10,000 l/s without pumping is achieved, which permits experiments up to a scale of 1:1.

After his presentation of the Institute and its activities Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Helmut Habersack guided us personally through the impressive installations of the BOKU River Lab. About 55 Million EUR were invested in total, the EU-Cofinancing amounted to 26 Mio. EUR. The installation should not only serve the Danube River Region but all river areas throughout the EU. Effects of floods and general river erosion can be simulated and analyzed in a 1:1 model. Most parts of the Danube for instance are facing the danger of erosion of its river banks as well as its river bed. The stones in the river bed are moving constantly what can be simulated in the installations of the BOKU River Lab. These are cross benefit analyses with economic consequences for industry, tourism and agriculture.

University Professor Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Habersack:

1991 Diploma of BOKU, 1997 Doctoral Degree, 1997-2001 Assistant Professor, Visiting Professor to Universities in USA, 2010 - 2017 Head of Christian Doppler Laboratory for Advanced Methods in River Monitoring, Modelling and Engineering,   2011 - 2019 Head of the Institute of Water Management, Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering, 2011 Full Professor for Hydraulic Engineering and Modellin, 2014 UNESCO Chair on Integrated River Research and Management,2016 - 2018 UNESCO IHP Vice President of Intergovernmental Council, 2016 - 2022 Vice President of the World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER, 2018 President of the International Commission for the Hydrology of the Rhine Basin (CHR), 2022 President of the Geo/Hydro-Science National Committee of UNESC, 2022 President of the World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER), 2023 President of the Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO Intergovermental Hydrological Programme IHP

In 2023 he was awarded "Austrian of the Year" in the category "Research"