Preface

The 4 th IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures was held in Porto Palácio Hotel, Porto, Portugal, during February 9-11, 2012.

Hydraulic Structures into the 21 st Century: a Critical Role in our Society , the main theme of the symposium, focuses on the central role of hydraulic structures in an era of economic development which urgently requires sustainability.

The main objective of the Symposium was to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and expertise among the various research and applied communities on the broad subject area of hydraulic structures, embracing their traditional use in water resources development, as well as their role in improving water management practices, water quality, and restoration of natural habitats.

The Portuguese Water Resources Association (APRH) collaborated with the Hydraulic Structures Committee of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) to organize the 4 th IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures, co-located for the first time with the 11 th Water Congress (February 6-8, 2012, Porto), which is the largest Portuguese event on hydraulics and water resources, organized every two years by the Portuguese Water Resources Association (APRH).

The five Scientific Themes of the Symposium are:

• Regulation Structures
• Flow Conveyance Structures
• Energy Dissipation
• Physical & Numerical Modeling
• Environmental and Ecological Impacts

All papers published in the Proceedings (ISBN: 978-989-8509-01-7) and presented at the 4 th IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures have been peer reviewed for technical content, as outlined below. The Proceedings are a Portuguese Water Resources Association (APRH) publication.

In response to the Call for Papers inviting Full Papers, the Scientific Committee received 49 proposed contributions, in addition to the invited Keynote Papers. The International Scientific Committee included Reviewers from the Hydraulic Structures Committee and other Committees of IAHR throughout the world, and also from APRH, to evaluate all of the papers with regard to their suitability for the Symposium. All papers submitted for oral or poster presentation were peer reviewed by at least two independent reviewers according to a set of criteria established by the Scientific Committee. Reviewers were required to assess the paper against these criteria and provide comments on the paper for both the author and the Scientific Committee against the criteria. Authors were then requested to revise their manuscript in accordance with Reviewers’ comments and to submit for final review before inclusion in the Proceedings. The final number of papers accepted for publication in the Proceedings was 43.

Whether a paper was selected for oral or poster presentation has had no bearing on the review process. The same level of rigour has been applied to all papers and all papers which have been accepted, regardless of the presentation mode, have been published in the Proceedings.

The Technical Program was enriched by four keynote lectures given by experts in their fields, as listed below. The last three are included in the proceedings.

“Dams and appurtenant hydraulic structures in Portugal. Some recent projects”
José Rocha Afonso , Institute of Water (INAG), Portugal
“Fishway hydrodynamics and global approaches for insuring the upstream migration around dams”
Laurent David , Institut Pprime, CNRS- Université de Poitiers – ENSMA, France
“Computational multi-phase fluid dynamics to address flows past hydraulic structures”
Fabián Bombardelli, University of California, Davis, USA
“Personal adventures and peeks behind the curtain”
Dave Campbell, Schnabel Engineering, USA

The final Proceedings were edited by the chairs of the Local Organising and Scientific Committees, Jorge Matos and Stefano Pagliara, assisted by Inês Meireles, also member of the Local Organising Committee.

Acknowledgements
We thank the many persons who have contributed to the organization of the Symposium. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the efforts of the Leadership Team of the Hydraulic Structures Committee of IAHR, as well as the Local Organizing Committee members. Particular gratitude is extended to Hubert Chanson for his valuable contribution to organising the program, and to Alexandra Serra, for her great enthusiasm and support to this initiative. Sincere thanks also to all Reviewers, whose names are listed in the Proceedings, and to Michele Palermo and Sahameddin Kurdistani for their help in the reviewing management process.

The Editors express their sincere gratitude to the general, keynote and invited speakers, the authors of all papers, the poster presenters and session chair persons. Without their contributions, we would not have been able to have produced these Proceedings.

We sincerely hope that the Proceedings of the 4 th IAHR International Symposium on Hydraulic Structures will contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the subject area of hydraulic structures, and to the progress of our professions.

Like prior Hydraulic Structures Symposia, the Symposium is more than the mark of its papers. It is intended to be a stimulating occasion for the lively discussion of concepts, insights, formulations and models associated with hydraulic structures. To those of you who participated in the Symposium, many thanks. We hope you retain fond memories of the Symposium and your time in Porto.

The Editors,
Jorge Matos, Technical University of Lisbon - IST, Portugal.
Stefano Pagliara, University of Pisa, Italy
Inês Meireles, University of Aveiro, Portugal

February 2012