Mario J. Franca – författare

Rivers form one of the lifelines in our society by providing essential services such as availability of fresh water, navigation, energy, ecosystem services, and flood conveyance. Because of this essential role, mankind has interfered continuously in order to benefit most and at the same time avoid adverse consequences such as flood risk and droughts. This has resulted in often highly engineered rivers with a narrow set of functions. In the last decades rivers are increasingly considered in a more holistic manner as a system with a multitude of interdependent processes. River research and engineering has therefore added to the river fundamentals also themes like ecohydraulics, consequences of climate change, and urbanisation. River Flow 2020 contains the contributions presented at the 10th conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, River Flow 2020, organised under the auspices of the Committee on Fluvial Hydraulics of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). What should have been a lively physical gathering of researchers, students and practitioners, was converted into an online event as the COVID-19 pandemic hindered international travelling and large gatherings of people. Nevertheless, the fluvial hydraulics community showed their interest and to be very much alive with a high number of participations for such event. Since its first edition in 2002, in Louvain-la-Neuve, this series of conferences has found a large and loyal audience in the river research and engineering community while being also attractive to the new researchers and young professionals. This is highlighted by the large number of contributions applying for the Coleman award for young researchers, and also by the number of applications and attendants to the Master Classes which are aimed at young researchers and students.River Flow 2020 aims to provide an updated overview of the ongoing research in this wide range of topics, and contains five major themes which are focus of research in the fluvial environment: river fundamentals, the digital river, the healthy river, extreme events and rivers under pressure. Other highlights of River Flow 2020 include the substantial number of interdisciplinary subthemes and sessions of special interest. The contributions will therefore be of interest to academics in hydraulics, hydrology and environmental engineering as well as practitioners that would like to be updated about the newest findings and hot themes in river research and engineering.

Rivers form one of the lifelines in our society by providing essential services such as availability of fresh water, navigation, energy, ecosystem services, and flood conveyance. Because of this essential role, mankind has interfered continuously in order to benefit most and at the same time avoid adverse consequences such as flood risk and droughts. This has resulted in often highly engineered rivers with a narrow set of functions. In the last decades rivers are increasingly considered in a more holistic manner as a system with a multitude of interdependent processes. River research and engineering has therefore added to the river fundamentals also themes like ecohydraulics, consequences of climate change, and urbanisation. River Flow 2020 contains the contributions presented at the 10th conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, River Flow 2020, organised under the auspices of the Committee on Fluvial Hydraulics of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). What should have been a lively physical gathering of researchers, students and practitioners, was converted into an online event as the COVID-19 pandemic hindered international travelling and large gatherings of people. Nevertheless, the fluvial hydraulics community showed their interest and to be very much alive with a high number of participations for such event. Since its first edition in 2002, in Louvain-la-Neuve, this series of conferences has found a large and loyal audience in the river research and engineering community while being also attractive to the new researchers and young professionals. This is highlighted by the large number of contributions applying for the Coleman award for young researchers, and also by the number of applications and attendants to the Master Classes which are aimed at young researchers and students.River Flow 2020 aims to provide an updated overview of the ongoing research in this wide range of topics, and contains five major themes which are focus of research in the fluvial environment: river fundamentals, the digital river, the healthy river, extreme events and rivers under pressure. Other highlights of River Flow 2020 include the substantial number of interdisciplinary subthemes and sessions of special interest. The contributions will therefore be of interest to academics in hydraulics, hydrology and environmental engineering as well as practitioners that would like to be updated about the newest findings and hot themes in river research and engineering.

The behaviour of river systems is a result of the complex interaction between flow, sediments, morphology and habitats. Furthermore, rivers are often used as a source of water supply and energy production as well as a waterway for transportation. The main challenge faced by river engineers today, in collaboration with environmental and ecological scientists, is to restore the channelized rivers under the constraints of high urbanization and limited space, as well as sustainable water use.During the seventh International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics “River Flow 2014” at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, scientists and professionals from all over the world addressed this challenge and exchanged their knowledge regarding fluvial hydraulics and river morphology. This book comprises the proceedings of the high quality contributions of the participants, which reflect the state-of-the-art in the fields of river hydrodynamics, morphodynamics, sediment transport, river engineering and restoration. The conference was organized under the auspices of the Committee on Fluvial Hydraulics of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR). Past River Flow conferences have witnessed a significant increase in participation of our community of river engineers and researchers, confirming the need for such a forum.

Despite the mechanisms of reservoir sedimentation being well known for a long time, sustainable and preventive measures are rarely taken into consideration in the design of new reservoirs. To avoid operational problems of powerhouses, sedimentation is often treated for existing reservoirs with measures which are efficient only for a limited time.The today’s challenge of dam owners and engineers is to guarantee with adequate mitigation measures the future sustainable use of the vital reservoirs supplying water for drinking, food and energy production. Research and development is still urgently needed to identify efficient mitigation measures adapted to the main sedimentation processes involved in reservoirs.During the seventh International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics “River Flow 2014” at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, scientists and professionals from all over the world addressed the challenge of reservoir sedimentation in a special session and exchanged their knowledge and experiences. Invited and selected contributions, which give an overview on the latest developments and research regarding reservoir sedimentation including case studies, are presented in this book, in the hope that they can contribute to better sustainable use of the vital reservoirs worldwide.

Despite the mechanisms of reservoir sedimentation being well known for a long time, sustainable and preventive measures are rarely taken into consideration in the design of new reservoirs. To avoid operational problems of powerhouses, sedimentation is often treated for existing reservoirs with measures which are efficient only for a limited time.

Despite the mechanisms of reservoir sedimentation being well known for a long time, sustainable and preventive measures are rarely taken into consideration in the design of new reservoirs. To avoid operational problems of powerhouses, sedimentation is often treated for existing reservoirs with measures which are efficient only for a limited time.