Publications by Michael Pfister

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

Piano key weirs (PKWs) are a weir type characterized by an effective rating curve. Accordingly, this control structure is primarily applied at dams to increase the spillway capacity. In recent years, PKWs also have been implemented in rivers combined with ...

Dam safety is strongly linked to the probability of occurrence of large floods. Floods can transport large wood (LW) into reservoirs and towards water release structures as spillways. Due to blocking and clogging, LW may significantly influence the dischar ...

The lack of knowledge regarding air entrainment caused by large jets in hydraulic structures, such as downstream Pelton turbines, has led EDF (Electricité de France) to carry out a test series to optimize the La Coche Power plant. The data extracted from t ...

Tsunami, impulse-waves and dam-break waves afflict humanity with casualties and damages. An insight into the flow mechanisms of these waves is important to provide safety and reduce reconstruction costs. This experimental study focuses on the effect of bed ...

Hydrodynamic waves are characterised by unsteady, highly turbulent and irregular behaviours. In nature, such phenomena can be observed in dam breaks, impulse waves and tsunamis. Both wet bed bores and dry bed surges were experimentally reproduced on smooth ...

Existing riverbank riprap could face the risk of failure if the flood regime changes in future. Additionally, changed sediment transport in rivers, as a possible result of climate change, impacts the failure risk of flood protection measures. Evaluation of ...

Tsunamis, impulse waves, and dam-break waves are rare but catastrophic events, associated with casualties and damage to infrastructures. An adequate description of these waves is vital to assure human safety and to generate resilient structures. Furthermor ...

Large wood is often transported by rivers into reservoirs during heavy rainfall events. When a critical section like a spillway is blocked and discharge capacity reduced, an uncontrolled increase of the reservoir water level may occur. This study aims to s ...

The nonaerated region may occupy a large portion of the skimming flow in steep, stepped spillways, particularly for relatively high unit flow rates. In spite of the numerous contributions on the hydraulic properties at both the inception point of air entra ...

Tsunamis, landslide-generated waves, and dam failures are rare, but highly destructive phenomena, associated with extreme loading on infrastructure. Recent events showed that specific measures must be taken to guarantee safety of both people and the built ...

Former studies on combining flows resulted in an efficient layout of sewer junctions operated under supercritical approach flow conditions. Straight extensions allowed a reduction in the shock wave heights generated by the merging flows, so that the global ...

Driftwood is often transported by a river course during flood events and can be problematic where it accumulates at hydraulic structures. Near obstacles, driftwood can block and thus reduces the open flow area for water passage, resulting in a lowered disc ...

Previous studies and field surveys showed that specific structural designs can decrease the load on free-standing buildings along the coast, providing safer vertical shelters. This experimental study investigated the effect of openings in buildings (window ...

The protection of river banks in mountain rivers by riprap requires large blocks with weights typically exceeding 1 t. Thus, the blocks have to be placed individually. Such packed riprap has a relatively small spacing between the blocks. Consequently, the ...

A comprehensive understanding of physical phenomena based on a hybrid experimental-numerical approach supports a safer design of critical infrastructures. However, for large-scale tsunami-like waves, the reliability of numerical models was insufficiently v ...

Vortex drop shafts serve to overcome important elevation differences in drainage systems. If well designed, they are performant in terms of energy dissipation and safety. However, the standard design requires well-defined approach flow conditions to ensure ...

Ski jumps are frequently applied as spillways of high dams. The resulting jet impact location on the plunge pool surface is often distant from the dam toe so that the latter is protected from scouring. Furthermore, the jet disintegrates and disperses prior ...

In the context of a comprehensive research project investigating the hydrodynamic loading on structures with openings, this paper focuses on the wave generation techniques currently used and the test results associated with it, proposing a particular tsuna ...

Natural hazards such as tsunamis, impulse waves and dam-break waves are rare, but extremely destructive. In recent times, more importance was given to structures that could withstand such events, however, uncertainties still exist in the estimation of wave ...

Unsteady flows such as tsunamis, impulse waves and dam-break waves can lead to damages and human losses. Hence, specific research to limit casualties and reconstruction costs is needed. The complexity of the phenomena involved suggests that a hybrid experi ...

Michael Pfister

Chat with Graph Search

Upstream Erosion and Sediment Passage at Piano Key Weirs

Influence of density of large stems on the blocking probability at spillways

Experimental study of large scale plunging jets

Effect of bed roughness on tsunami-like waves and induced loads on buildings

Surface Turbulence on Bores and Surges propagating on Smooth and Rough Beds

Probabilistic failure analysis of riprap as riverbank protection under flood uncertainties

Effect of debris damming on wave-induced hydrodynamic loads against free-standing buildings with openings

Experimental repetitions and blockage of large stems at ogee crested spillways with piers

Discussion of "Skimming, Nonaerated Flow on Stepped Spillways over Roller Compacted Concrete Dams" by Ines Meireles, Floriana Renna, Jorge Matos, and Fabian Bombardelli

Experimental study on the hydrodynamic impact of tsunami-like waves against impervious free-standing buildings

Head losses in junction manholes for free surface flows in circular conduits

Effect of driftwood on hydraulic head of Piano Key weirs

Experimental study on forces exerted on buildings with openings due to extreme hydrodynamic events

Design of Riverbank Riprap Using Large, Individually Placed Blocks

Numerical approach in the study of tsunami-like waves and comparison with experimental data

Multiple Inflow Branches at Supercritical-Type Vortex Drop Shaft

Trajectories and air flow features of ski jump-generated jets

Experimental generation of tsunami-like waves

Estimation of wave propagation velocity on a channel with smooth and rough bed

Experimental and numerical study on wave-impact on buildings