BME researchers involved in flood protection

At the request of the General Directorate of Water Management (OVF), Tamás Krámer and Péter Torma, from the Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering of the Faculty of Civil Engineering, support flood forecasting tasks by running river models and providing advice. Barbara Kéri, Károly Tóth, András Rehák and Sándor Baranya are participating in the flood measurements on the Gönyű section of the Danube.

Prior to the assistance now being provided in the field, the department collaborated with the OVF on several projects over the past decade. Among other things, they have determined the optimal operation of the emergency reservoirs of the river Lajta, developed a flood forecasting system for the river Rába, and evaluated the tidal barrage efficiency of the Mosoni-Duna estuary dam. By running these models under the boundary conditions of the current flood situation, alternative estimates can be added to the forecasts of the National Hydrological Service, and the consequences of different ways of operating the control options (flood gates, emergency reservoirs) can be investigated.

"The current flooding provides an opportunity to collect missing data for our research on the Danube. The expected peak of the river is close to the historic flood of 2013, and to better understand phenomena like sediment migration and the changing of the river bed shape during such a rare flood, field data collection and measurements are needed," Sándor Baranya, head of the department, told bme.hu. Mr Baranya is also the organiser and a lecturer of the conference "Living Waters: How do we shape the fate of our rivers?", to be held on 25 September at the BME.

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