BOKU Wasserbaulabor – von der Idee bis zur Umsetzung

The beginning of permanently used hydraulic engineering laboratories dates back about 125 years. During this time, significant progress was made in the understanding of hydraulic engineering issues and the mathematical description of a wide variety of processes. These then served as the basis for an increasing use of numerical models, so that the importance of physical models seemed to be declining. However, it turned out that approaches developed at very small model scales in particular can result in significant differences to Nature. This increases the importance of large-scale experiments up to 1:1, which can depict turbulence, coherent structures, sediment transport, morphodynamics as well as measures in the areas of hydropower, navigation or flood risk management in a more natural way. The interaction of vegetation with flow or sediment transport, the impact of hydraulic engineering measures on fish or the risk of people drifting away during floods are also impossible or only possible to a limited extent at small scales. Thus, the new BOKU River Lab enables experiments to be carried out at a scale of up to 1:1, using a free-flowing discharge of up to 10 m³/s through the difference in water level between the Danube and the Danube Canal of 3 to 3.5 m. Together with model tests on a smaller scale with drinking water, this results in a model family of scales that allows in depth insights into processes as well as their mathematical description. This article presents the development of the BOKU River Lab from the idea 2009 to its implementation and opening 2023 and shows the potential and initial results using examples that are explained in detail in other articles in this issue.