2023-06-12 08:05:44
After around ten years of planning and three years of construction, the new hydraulic engineering laboratory at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (Boku) Vienna officially opens its floodgates. On the Brigittenauer Spur, between the Danube and the Danube Canal, water and flow experiments are now possible in a large new building true to scale and true to nature with flow rates of 10,000 liters per second, which are unique worldwide, without pumps. The opening of the large-scale facility will take place on Monday followingnoon.
Research on flood protection, drought problems in rivers, ecology, bed deepening, sustainable hydropower as well as torrent control, shipping and renaturation of rivers under the influence of climate change and land use change is the focus of the company. The new building with a total area of 12,300 square meters is close to the Electricity Engineering Office built by Otto Wagner and directly behind the Nussdorfer Weir, the entrance to the Danube Canal.
The “Main Channel”, the first hall with an area of 1,940 square meters, is “the heart of the new hydraulic engineering laboratory,” said Helmut Habersack, head of the Institute for Hydraulic Engineering, Hydraulics and Flowing Water Research at Boku and scientific director of the new hydraulic engineering laboratory, during a preview opposite the APA.
This is where the “Big Flume” is located, the construction of a large channel five meters wide – flexibly expandable to up to 25 meters – “a worldwide unique, which has a water volume of 10,000 liters per second, i.e. ten cubic meters per second without the use of pumps can be used – no laboratory in the world has that,” says the researcher. The channel enables experiments on a scale of up to 1:1 and closes a gap “in order to ultimately improve our calculation methods”.
The “River Lab”, the second test hall, with an area of 1,400 square meters and smaller river channels, enables experiments with possible flow rates of up to 1,000 liters of clear water per second. “The possibility of diverting water from the Danube at all is that the Danube is regarding three meters higher than the Danube Canal,” said Habersack. The water tapped from the Danube flows directly into the Danube Canal following flowing through the Main Channel. “We achieve flow velocity variability and vortices that also occur in nature, and water depths of up to three meters.”
The “Big Flume” offers numerous approaches for experiments. For example, the bottom of the channel can be lined with stones and rubble, i.e. substrate such as that found in the Danube, and exposed to the power of the water. Sediment transport in the Danube is a major issue. The amount and size of bedload transported “have changed. Fewer larger stones are now coming from the mountains to Vienna, as they remain in dams and other transverse structures, for example – with the result that, together with the effects of regulation, the Danube deepens in the free flow stretches.” This has consequences for groundwater levels, the habitats of fish, for shipping and hydropower. As part of a project, the researchers are investigating “how we can get the sediment through – ultimately to the Black Sea” in order to prevent sandy beach erosion on the coasts.
The “floating debris” in the channel can also be of a different nature: Among other things, experiments are planned on suspended matter in the water, with fish, and with trees and bushes in connection with flood risk and ecology. The researchers are also interested in the drift of people with regard to limit values for flow velocity and water depth, in order to be able to better assess the risk and successful rescue measures in the event of a flood disaster.
On the 90 meter long “Big Flume”, high viewing windows lined with armored glass on the side provide a clear view of the flow in sections – from the bottom to the water surface. A special laser technology provides speed profiles with high temporal resolution. In the “Large Flume”, a second flume in the main hall, river water waves and the effects of flushing on the ecology up to and including surfing waves can be simulated.
The development of new methods and innovative solutions is a central goal – also as a contribution to sustainable hydropower, according to Habersack. One of the overriding objectives is also flood protection: “We see climate change, but also changes in land use, making the situation worse. The rivers are significantly involved here.”
Integrated flood risk management might also help in times of drought: by maintaining and improving floodplains – and thus preventing further soil sealing – water might be retained for groundwater renewal and made available once more in dry times. “Here you can try to develop win-win solutions – for flood protection, fighting drought and protecting biodiversity.” A correspondingly large-scale EU project called “DANUBE4all” began in January 2023 and, over the next five years, aims to “develop a Danube rehabilitation action plan involving the population for the first time,” says the project coordinator.
The location for the new Boku hydraulic engineering laboratory was found in 2010, the groundbreaking ceremony took place in 2018, construction began in January 2020 and was completed at the end of 2022. The total costs of around 49 million euros were covered by the European Regional Development Fund, the City of Vienna and the state Lower Austria and four ministries (science, climate, agriculture and economy).
In addition to the two test halls, the hydraulic engineering laboratory also houses a lecture hall for teaching and events as well as workshops, which are used by the Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Hydrometric Testing of the Federal Office for Water Management, which has also moved in and uses the test halls. A “Public Lab” is available with information for the public and for school programs.
(SERVICE – From August 21 to 25, 2023, three international conferences will take place in Vienna: “Vienna Water Conferences 2023” – https://rivers.boku.ac.at)
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