Hydraulic engineering lab at Nuremberg Tech (LWN)

Water plays a key role in securing our life on Earth. All local and global processes must be comprehensively analyzed, their impacts demonstrated and expertise and tools to influence them provided in order to use this resource intelligently, effectively and sustainably on the basis of its recuperation capacity, as well as to be able to develop and adopt precautionary measures for natural events (heavy rain, floods, storm tides, etc.). Traditionally, technical and scientific analysis in the field of water has been a discipline of civil engineering.

Civil engineers look at the spatial and temporal distribution of water, develop flood prevention measures for rivers and coastlines, tap into drinking water resources or plan systems for the water supply and wastewater treatment. For example, civil engineers bring together the use of navigable waterways for shipping (as the most environmentally friendly mode of transport) and an ecologically responsible development of watercourses, use the water as a source of renewable energy by building hydroelectric power stations, or plan irrigation systems.   

Nuremberg is one of the regions of Europe lying furthest from the coast. It is nevertheless shaped by water: with the Pegnitz river in the city center, its position directly on the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal, the white water stretches to be found in the Franconian Switzerland region, the Franconian Lake District to the south, which is home to the Brombachsee, the Altmühlsee and Rothsee lakes, as well as the Danube to the south and the Main to the north.   

The Hydraulic engineering lab at the Nuremberg Institute of Technology is over 50 years old. Here, students of civil engineering are taught the foundations of hydromechanics and hydraulic engineering by gathering practical experience. The laboratory team is available to provide specialist advice for authorities, municipal institutions or companies and conducts applied research on selected areas of hydraulic engineering and flow mechanics.

Our state-of-the-art lab lies directly on the bank of the Pegnitz river and, with an area of 250 m², offers students a full range of investigative opportunities to conduct field measurements, lab studies, and numerical modelling.