Stefan Felder

I am an Associate Professor in hydraulic engineering and applied fluid mechanics in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. I hold a Dipl.-Ing. from RWTH Aachen University, Germany and a PhD in Hydraulic Engineering from the University of Queensland. I joined UNSW in 2014 and established the hydraulic engineering research group at the UNSW Water Research Laboratory. I am an expert in hydraulic engineering and applied fluid mechanics with internationally recognised research in air-water flows, hydraulic structures engineering and fish passage. I have pioneered the use of remote sensing technology for flow observations in hydraulic structures and, together with my international collaborators, have made important changes to the way we measure and interpret air-water flows in the laboratory as well as in prototype structures. I am the primary UNSW School of Civil and Environmental Engineering academic in hydraulic engineering and fluid mechanics, enabling me to transfer my passion for hydraulic engineering to the next generation of water engineers. Using my leadership positions in relevant committees of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR) and Engineers Australia, I actively pursue changing the profession’s traditions towards the sustainable development goals. My expertise is in the fields of water engineering, hydraulic engineering and environmental fluid mechanics. I improve hydraulic designs, flow performances and environmental flows in urban stormwater, flow conveyance, wastewater and irrigation systems. More recently my research further diversified into fishways and impacts of climate change on the hydrodynamics of estuarine systems. My research is mostly experimental exploring new technologies and advancing data processing methods for improved understanding of complex flow processes at both laboratory and full scale. My specialised research interests include: - Energy dissipation and design optimisation of hydraulic infrastructure. - Aeration and air-water interactions in high-velocity free-surface flows including turbulence and boundary layers properties. - Physical modelling and scale effects; Field-scale experiments of air-water flows. - Grass-lined spillways and other nature-based aspects of hydraulic engineering - UNSW tube fishway project to enable fish passage - Design of instrumentation and advanced data processing tools. - Exploring use of LIDAR and other remote sensing technologies in hydraulics.