Research

WRES faculty and students conduct research covering a broad range of topics in hydrology, hydraulics and water resources systems. A list of current areas of research is provided below:

Environmental Hydraulics and Sediment Transport

  • Stability of meandering channels and streambank erosion
  • Mechanics of sediment sorting in river bends
  • Sediment-turbulence interaction in environmental boundary-layer flows Sediment transport by gravity currents in the ocean
  • Sediment transport in storm sewers
  • Sediment-laden flows through emergent vegetation
  • Reservoir sedimentation
  • Wetlands hydraulics and hydrology
  • Relationships between wetland plant occurrence and hydrologic indicators
  • Engineering of flow-sediment interaction to improve outfall design
  • Submerged jet and wall jet flows
  • Numerical modeling of submerged outfalls

Groundwater Transport

  • Numerical methods for transport of reactive contaminants in heterogeneous aquifers
  • Natural Attenuation of organic contaminants in low permeability zones
  • Groundwater model calibration and uncertainty quantification
  • Pore-scale modeling of multiphase flow and reactive transport
  • Geological sequestration of carbon dioxide

Large Scale Hydrologic Processes

  • Modeling large scale hydrologic processes
  • Land – atmosphere interaction
  • Precipitation analysis and modeling
  • Applications of wavelet transforms for multiscale studies
  • Spatial organization of soil moisture
  • Zebra Mussel Transport in Rivers

Water Resources Systems

  • Water-food nexus
  • Water-energy nexus
  • Water footprints and virtual water trade
  • Water resources economics and policy