Committee on Experimental Methods and Instrumentation [Committee ’s own website]

The mission of the Experimental Methods and Instrumentation Committee (EMI) is to promote new experimental methods, instruments, measurement techniques, and data analysis routines for both laboratory and field hydro-environment studies as well as to coordinate international activities in this dynamic area. Because of the diversity of measured hydraulic parameters and flow situations, a wide variety of methods and instruments have been developed. The advanced state-of-the-art instrumentation is followed by increasing expectations for data acquisition, which in turn results in the necessity of increased atomization of data collection and improvement of handling and processing of large data sets.

With respect to laboratory systems, special emphasis is given to the development of new capabilities for studying fundamental hydraulic phenomena and their interactions with other associated environmental processes such as aquatic ecosystem functioning. The central focus is on non-intrusive methods such as methods employing acoustic and optically-based instruments.

With respect to field systems, EMI activities emphasize design and implementation of multi-process and multi-scale observational and experimental studies, employing both remote and in-situ measurement techniques. Such studies incorporate the most advanced instruments connected in real-time data acquisition networks that can be linked to data models and numerical simulation tools, to underpin resource management policies.

To enhance implementation of new measurement technologies into research and practice, EMI continues its efforts in linking manufacturers, designers, and users (scientists and monitoring agencies).

back to top

Research Agenda

Laboratory systems: Despite the need for robust and inexpensive hydraulic laboratory equipment, development efforts currently focus on developing tools to analyse fundamental hydraulic behaviour and their interactions with other associated environmental processes such as aquatic ecosystem functioning. This leads to the development of more accurate methods and instruments to analyse new properties.

Systems for field measurements: Despite the fact that more accurate instruments and methods are also needed in the field to analyse new properties, the main goal is to develop systems that are economical and robust.

Installation of data-acquisition equipment in the field: For almost all major river systems in the world, only insufficient data on their water resource and flow-behaviour exists. The missing data may be quite basic in developing countries or very specific in high industrialised nations (pollution, flood insurance problems, etc.). The operation and maintenance of reliable measuring stations need improvement. The cost of continuous data-acquisition needed for this type of data can become prohibitive. Authorities undertake great efforts to automate the measurement, transmission and analysis of water resources data.

The IAHR-Committee on Experimental Methods and Instrumentation provides an important link between manufacturer and users of these instruments. Particular action is needed in the testing of instruments, a field in which a new system of data-exchange should be set-up in the future. EMI offers a platform to distribute ideas for new solutions and knowledge about such instruments and methods. Efforts to establish the position of IAHR as a contributor to the efforts of international standardisation are being undertaken, based on the world-wide activities of the organisation.

back to top

Leadership Team

Dr.-Ing. Jochen Aberle Leichtweiss-Institut fuer Wasserbau Abteilung Wasserbau Technische Universitaet Braunschweig Beethovenstr. 51a 38106 Braunschweig Germany tel. +49-(0)531-391-3922 fax +49-(0)531-391-8184 e-mail: j.aberle@tu-bs.de

Prof. Cristina di Cristo Universita degli studi di Cassino, Di.M.S.A.T Via Marconi 10 03043 Cassino FR ITALY tel. +39 0776 2994340 fax +39 0776 2993939 e-mail dicristo@unicas.it

Prof. Colin Rennie University of Ottawa Department of Civil Engineering 161 Louis Pasteur St. Ottawa ON K1N 6N5 USA tel 613-562-5800 ext 6124 fax 613-562-5173 e-mail crennie@genie.uottawa.ca

	Prof. Wu Shiqiang Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute Director of the Hydraulic Engineering Department 223 Guangzhou Road 210029 Nanjing CHINA Tel +86 25 858 28 203 Fax +86 25 858 28 222 e-mail sqwu@nhri.cn
	Dr. David Admiraal University of Nebraska Department of Civil Engineering 3411 Woods Ave Lincoln, NE 68510 USA tel. +1 402 472 8568 e-mail dadmiraal2@unl.edu
	Rui Aleixo Université catholique de Louvain BELGIUM e-mail: rui.aleixo@student.uclouvain.be
	Shahid Ali TU Delft THE NETHERLANDS e-mail: s.ali@tudelft.nl
	Prof. Ijiro Fujita Kobe University Department of Civil Engineering 1-1 Rokkodai Nada, Kobe 657-8501 JAPAN tel. +81 78 803 6439 fax +81 78 803 6439 e-mail ifujita@kobe-u.ac.jp

Co-opted Members

	Prof. V. Nikora (co-opted member) University of Aberdeen Engineering Department, Fraser Noble Building Kings College Aberdeen AB243UE, Scotland UNITED KINGDOM phone: +1224 273 830 fax: +1224 272 497 e-mail: v.nikora@abdn.ac.uk
	Dr. Marian Muste (co-opted member) Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research The University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242-1585 USA Tel.: 319 384 0624 Fax: 319 335 5238 e-mail: muste@uiowa.edu
	Dr James Sutherland (co-opted member) Principal Scientist HR Wallingford Coasts and Estuaries Howbery Park Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BA UNITED KINGDOM tel. +44 (0)1491 822311 e-mail j.sutherland@hrwallingford.com

Working Groups

• Database group (Leader: James Sutherland)
• Meetings group (Leader: Rui Aleixo)
• Publications group (Leader: Ali Shahid)
• Website group (Leader: Jochen Aberle)

back to top

• Aberle, J. (2010). "Book review: River training and sediment management with submerged vanes." J. Hydraul. Res. 48(4), 553-554.
• Kashyap, S., Doutreleau, B., Bou-Botros, G. Rennie, C.D, and Townsend, R. (2010). "A semi-permanent method for fixing sand beds in laboratory flumes." J. Hydraul. Res., 48(3), 377-382.
• Muste, M., Mervade, V., Kim., D., Maidment, D., and Whiteaker, D. (2010). "Data models for multi-dimensional representation of the river processes." Hydrolink 4(2010), 58-59.
• Nezu, I., Di Cristo, C., and Rennie, C. (2010). "10 Questions to Prof. Iehisa Nezu." Hydrolink 4(2010), 60-61.
• Rennie, C. (ed.) (2010). "A special 75th IAHR anniversary issue of Hydrolink." - Hydrolink 4(2010).
• Rennie, C.D. and Church, M. (2010). "Mapping spatial distributions and uncertainty of water and sediment flux in a large gravel bed river reach using an acoustic Doppler current profiler." J. Geophys. Res., 115, F03035, doi:10.1029/2009JF001556, 2010.
• Rennie, C.D. and Hay, A. "Reynolds stress estimates in a tidal channel from phase-wrapped ADV data." J. Coastal Res., 26(1), 157-166.
• Nikora, V. Book Review: “Streamflow measurement“ by Reginald W. Herschy, 3rd edition, 2009, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York, ISBN 978-0-415-41342-8. 507 pp., J. Hydraul. Res. (in print).
• Fujita, I., Muste, M. and Hauet, A. (2009). "LSPIV – a Powerful Tool for Measurements in Hydroscience." IAHR HYDROLINK 5/2009, 72-73.
• Aberle, J. (2008). "Measurement techniques for the estimation of cohesive sediment erosion." Publs. Inst. Geophys. Pol. Acad. Sc., E-10 (406).
• Rennie, C.D. and Rainville, F. (2008). "Improving precision in the reference velocity of ADCP measurements using a Kalman filter with GPS and bottom track."J. Hydraul. Eng. (ASCE), 134(9), 1257-1266.
• Zhang, Z., Bao, X., Rennie, C.D., Nistor, I., and Cornett, A. (2008). "Water wave frequency detection by optical fiber sensor." Optics Communication, 281(24), 6011-6015.
• Clunie, T.M., Nikora, V., Coleman, S.E., Friedrich, H., Melville, B.W. (2007). "Flow measurement using flying ADV probes." J. Hydr. Eng., 133(12), 1345-1355.
• Cowen, E.A., Hill, D., George, C., Jirka, G., Muste, M., Admiraal, D.M., Blake, A., Frizell, W., Nakato, T., Oberg, K., Pugh, C., Rehmann, C., Rennie, C., Schmidt, A.R., Styles, S., Vermeyen, T., Wahl, T., Zhu, D. (eds.) (2007). Hydraulic Measurements & Experimental Methods Conference - 2007, Book of Extended Abstracts of the Specialty Conference. September 10-12, 2007, Lake Placid, NY, Environmental & Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the International Association of Hydraulic Engineers.
• Muste, M., Vermeyen, T., Hotchkiss, R., and Oberg, K. (eds.) (2007). Special Issue of the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (ASCE) 133(12) on Acoustic Velocimetry for Riverine Environments published in December 2007
• Muste, M., Vermeyen, T., Hotchkiss, R., and Oberg, K. (2007). "Acoustic velocimetry for riverine environments." J. Hydr. Eng., 133(12), 1297-1298.
• Rennie, C.D., Rainville, F., and Kashyap, S. (2007). "Improved Estimation of ADCP Apparent Bed-Load Velocity Using a Real-Time Kalman Filter." J. Hydr. Eng., 133(12), 1337-1344
• 6th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, Singapore, June 21-25, 2004, World Scientific Publishing http://www.worldscibooks.com/books/engineering/5494.html
• 2000 Hydroinformatic Proceedings. The Conference proceedings of the 4th International Conference held from 23-27 July 2000 in Iowa, USA, contain a book (333 pages of abstracts) and full text of all papers on a CD-ROM

back to top

• Minutes Brisbane 2011
• International Symposium on Hydraulic Physical Modeling and Field Investigation (ISHPMF)
• ANNUAL REPORT Aug 2009 – June 2010
• Minutes from Vancouver 2009
• Vancouver Committee Meeting Report 2009
• Minutes from Venice 2007
• Seoul Committee Meeting Report, September, 2005
• Minutes from Thessaloniki 2003
• Thessaloniki Committee Meeting Report, August, 2003

back to top

Upcoming Events with EMI-Involvement

• Hydraulic Measurements and Experimental Methods 2012 (to be announced)
• 2nd European IAHR Congress in Munich, Germany, June 27 - 29, 2012.
• 34th IAHR World Congress in Brisbane, Australia, June 26 - July 1, 2011
• American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 13-17, 2010

For further information on upcoming conferences see IAHR and EWRI

Recent Events with EMI-Involvement

• XXX International School of Hydraulics, Wiejce, Poland, September 14- 17, 2010
• International Symposium on Hydraulic Physical Modeling and Field Investigation, Nanjing, China, September 13-15, 2010
• River Flow 2010, Braunschweig, Germany, September 8-10, 2010
• Gravel-Bed Rivers VII Conference, Tadoussac, Canada, September 6- 10, 2010
• First European Congress of the IAHR, Edinburgh, Scotland, 4– 6 May 2010
• 7^th International Symposium on Ultrasonic Doppler Methods for Fluid Mechanics and Fluids Engineering, Gothenburg, Sweden April 7-9 2010
• National Telford Institute Workshop - Advances in Flow, Density and Sediment Measurement Techniques in the Laboratory and the Field, University of Dundee, UK, October 5-6, 2009
• EOS Topical Meeting on "Blue" Photonics – Optics in the Sea, Aberdeen, Scotland, August 18-19, 2009
• 33rd IAHR Biennial Congress, Vancouver, Canada, August 10 - 14, 2009
• XXVIII International School of Hydraulics, Krag, Poland, September 23 - 26, 2008
• 6th International Symposium on Ultrasonic Doppler Methods in Fluid Engineering and Fluid Mechanics, Prague, Czech Republic, September 9 - 11, 2008
• River Flow 2008, Cesme-Izmir, Turkey, September 3 -5, 2008.
• Workshop on erosion testing methods and techniques for cohesive sediments: University of Stuttgart, Germany, May 27 -28, 2008

back to top