Laboratory for Water Resources and Environmental Engineering

Laboratory for Water Resources and Environmental Engineering is developed mainly for researching in coastal engineering, karst hydrology, hydraulics, surface-groundwater systems and impact on environmental conditions in whole ecosystem. Laboratory investigates and simulates various processes from the domain of environmental engineering. Through the available equipment and planned experiments, isolated simulations of a real deep-water wave as well as the generation of currents and the combined effect of the wave field and sea currents are possible. The available measurement systems enable the measurement of velocity and concentration in the turbulent flow field, which enables research in the field of environmental and coastal engineering, real-time data collection and strictly controlled implementation of experiments. Furthermore, the project envisages research on waves in the coastal area, processes of flow and transport in karst and other aquifers, interaction of groundwater, surface and coastal waters, and salinization processes in the coastal area. The research direction offers answers to new challenges in construction interventions that significantly affect nature and contributes to ensuring sustainable development. Thematic units such as sustainable water management and irrigation of karst fields, taking into account the need to adapt to climate change and the needs of the local population, certainly represent some of the most important directions of research in the next period. Many problems of coastal engineering, for example the impact of waves on beaches and their loss of sand or determining the optimal construction of breakwaters and other marine structures, are further applied researches of this project.

List of the most important pieces of equipment in the laboratory:

• Closed wind tunnel (Goettingen type)
• Flume water channel with an integrated wave generator
• Basin with a sea wave generator for shallow wave research
• Karst aquifer model (two basins) with precipitation simulator
• PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) and LIF (Laser Induced Fluorescence) measuring systems of particle velocity and concentration in space
• Other in-situ equipment such as boat, drones, cameras, LIDAR, sensors for velocity, pressure, concentration, turbidity…