The Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory at the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Patras was founded in 1980. Initially, its title was “Laboratory of Hydraulic Works”. It was renamed to its present name in 1991. Professor Emeritus C. Hadjitheodorou was the Director from 1980 until 2006. Since 2006, Director of the Lab is Professor Alexander C. Demetracopoulos.
The aim of the Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory is to support teaching, advance
research and provide
services related to flow of surface, ground and sea waters, coastal engineering, hydrology and water resources management, as well as associated technical works.
The
personnel of the Lab include four Faculty Members, one Engineer, one Lab technician and one Administrative staff member.
The Laboratory consists of the primary laboratory space with an area of approximately 1000 m
2, and a secondary space of approximately 100 m
2. The main
facilities in the primary space are the
Long Flume, the
Intermediate Flume, the
Wave Basin and the
Network of Constant-Head Conduits which lead to the corresponding space for operation of hydraulic models. The main facilities in the secondary space are the
Small Flume and the
Hydraulic Benches with assorted attachments which allow performance of various small scale experiments. There exists the necessary equipment for measurement of characteristic parameters in laboratory experiments as well as in field work. In addition, there exists a computer lab which consists of 20 serial computers and a parallel computer with four (4) nodes.
The courses offered by the Lab, both for undergraduate and graduate studies, are given in Table 1. Elective courses are available for undergraduate students interested in the field of Hydraulic Engineering and pursuing a Diploma thesis in the same field. Over the last five years, the approximate number of undergraduate students who undertake a Diploma thesis in the area of Hydraulic Engineering is eight (8) per year.
Table 1. Courses offered by the faculty of the Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory.