Professor Vladimir Nikora

FREng FRSE

Sixth Century Chair in Environmental Fluid Mechanics

Email Address: v.nikora@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number: +44 (0)1224 273830
School/Department: School of Engineering

Biography

2006 - Present	Professor, Sixth Century Chair in Environmental Fluid Mechanics, Leader of the Fluid Mechanics Research Group, University of Aberdeen
1995 - 2006	Principal Scientist and Manager of the Hydrodynamics Group (2001-2006), Senior Scientist (1995-2001), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Christchurch, New Zealand
1985 - 1995	Deputy Director (Research, 1988-1995), Head of the Department of Channel Processes (1987-1995), Senior Scientist (1985-1987), Institute of Geophysics and Geology, Academy of Sciences, Republic of Moldova
1980 - 1985	Senior Scientist (1984-1985), Scientist (1983-1984), Research Assistant (1980-1983), Odessa Hydrometeorological Institute, Ukraine

Recent Awards and Distinctions

2021 EWRI/ASCE Best Technical Note Award

2019 Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering

2019 7th M. Selim Yalin Lifetime Achievement Award of IAHR

2017 Hans Albert Einstein Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

2013 Guest Professor, Sichuan University, China (2013-2019)

2011 Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

2010 Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers

2010 EWRI/ASCE Best Technical Note Award

Qualifications

PhD in Engineering Hydraulics and Hydrology
1984 - State Hydrological Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia
MEng (Hons) in Engineering Hydrology
1978 - Odessa Hydrometeorological Institute, Ukraine

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

Academic Line Manager of the Fluid Mechanics Research Group

Coordinator of the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

External Memberships

Chair of the IAHR Technical Committee on Fluid Mechanics, since 2021
Member of the Council of the International Association of Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR), since 2017
Editor, IAHR Journal of Hydraulic Research, 2011-1016
Associate Editor, Water Resources Research (AGU), 2006-2011
Associate Editor, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (ASCE), 2007-2011
Member of Editorial Board, Acta Geophysica (Springer)
Guest Editor, Acta Geophysica (Springer), 2006-2008
Member of EPSRC Peer Review College
PhD and Habilitation Committees: UWA/Perth (Australia); Paris-Saclay, INRAE-Lyon (France), Karlsruhe/KIT, Dresden/TUD (Germany); IIT-Kharagpur (India); Torino, Trento (Italy); TU/Delft, Twente (the Netherlands); Auckland, Canterbury (New Zealand), NTNU/Trondheim (Norway); ETH/Zurich (Switzerland); Bradford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Herriot-Watt, Sheffield, Southampton, Warwick (UK)
Member of International and Organising Committees for a number of International Conferences and Workshops
Reviewer for:

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Leverhulme Trust, and the Royal Society London, UK; NSF, USA; Marie Curie programmes; DFG, Germany; NSERC and Canada Research Chairs Programme, Canada; National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Organisations, Italy; Israel Science Foundation; National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research, Chile; Hong Kong Research Grants Council; and for 18 major international journals in Hydraulics, Fluid Mechanics, Hydrology, Physics, Earth Sciences, and Ecology.

Research

Research Overview

My recent and current research interests comprise various topics of Environmental Fluid Mechanics with particular focus on:

Turbulence in open-channels, rivers, estuaries, and coastal areas
Benthic boundary layers, water-sediment interfaces, and sediment transport (cohesive/non-cohesive), including sand wave dynamics, turbulence-sediment interactions, erosion, re-suspension, flocculation, and bed particle dispersion
Flow-biota interactions and transport processes (periphyton, moss, mussels, macrophytes, invertebrates, fish)
Hydraulic resistance and channel stability in gravel-bed and sand-bed rivers
Overland flow hydrodynamics and soil erosion
Hydraulic instrumentation and measurement techniques
Channel networks, meandering and braided channels, granular surfaces, and Mars topography

Current Research

Currently I am working on development of a broad multidisciplinary research programme focusing on fluvial hydraulics (sediment transport, turbulence, flow resistance, mixing), eco-hydraulics (flow-biota interactions at multiple scales, ecologically relevant transport processes, vegetated channels, surface-subsurface flow interactions, benthic boundary layers), and fundamental issues of rough-bed flow hydrodynamics.

Students and professionals interested in pursuing postgraduate research in one of these directions are welcome to contact me.

Collaborations

INRAE (Lyon, France): Hydrodynamics of Shallow Flows
CNRS and University Claude Bernard (Lyon, France): flow-biota interactions
University of Braunschweig (Germany): rough-bed flow hydrodynamics, eco-hydraulics, and sediment transport
University of Karlsruhe (Germany): rough-bed flow hydrodynamics, turbulence, and sediment transport
University of Dresden (Germany): rough-bed flow hydrodynamics, turbulence, and sediment transport
Leibnitz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology (Germany): open-channel turbulence and flow-biota interactions
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway): open-channel turbulence, sediment transport, flow-biota interactions
Technical University of Milano (Italy): sediment transport and turbulence
University of Padova (Italy): sediment transport and turbulence
Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw, Poland): sediment transport, river turbulence, and dispersion
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA, New Zealand): flow-biota interactions, sediment transport, turbulence
University of Auckland (New Zealand): sediment transport and turbulence
University of Canterbury (New Zealand): large-scale turbulence in shallow flows

Funding and Grants

2021-2024: "Secondary currents in turbulent flows over rough walls”, EPSRC, UK (V. Nikora, S. Cameron, £735K), a part of a collaborative research program with the University of Southampton, University College London, and University of Glasgow.

2020-2023: “RIver flow regulation, fish BEhaviour and Status” (RIBES), EC, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks H2020-MSCA-ITN-2019 (V. Nikora, S. Cameron, B. Scott, S. Martin, €305K), a part of a collaborative international research program led by the Politecnico Di Torino.

2019-2020: “Field stereoscopic particle image velocimetry (FSPIV) system for high-resolution in-situ studies of freshwater and marine ecosystems”, NERC, UK (S. Cameron, V. Nikora, B. Scott, C. Soulsby, £289K).

2014-2018: "Bed friction in rough-bed free-surface flows: a theoretical framework, roughness regimes, and quantification", EPSRC, UK (V. Nikora, S. Cameron, £526.5K), a part of a collaborative research project with the Cardiff University.

2013-2016: "Hydrodynamic transport in ecologically critical heterogeneous interfaces" (HYTECH), EC, Marie Curie Initial Training Networks FP7-PEOPLE-2012-ITN (V. Nikora, S. Cameron, C. Gibbins, €597K), a part of a collaborative international research program led by the University of Padova.

2010-2014: "High-resolution numerical and experimental studies of turbulence-induced sediment erosion and near-bed transport", EPSRC, UK (V. Nikora, S. Cameron, £438.5K) and DFG, Germany (G. Jirka, M. Uhlmann, J. Fröhlich, W. Rodi).

2008-2011: "Biophysics of flow-plants interactions in aquatic systems", The Leverhulme Trust, UK (V. Nikora, M. O'Hare, S. Cameron, £216.4K).

2002-2006: "Waves in Submerged Particulate Beds", Marsden Research Grant (New Zealand), S. Coleman, V. Nikora, B. Melville, D. Goring, NZ$560K.

2002-2006: "Stochastic Mechanics of Soil Erosion", Marsden Research Grant (New Zealand), A. Sidorchuk, V. Nikora, NZ$585K.

2000-2004: "Granular surfaces: structure, organization, memory", Marsden Research Grant (New Zealand), V. Nikora, D. Goring, NZ$405K.

1997-2001: "Eddy cascade, burst phenomena, and intermittency in fully developed turbulent flows with irregular rough beds", Marsden Research Grant (New Zealand), V. Nikora, D. Goring, NZ$435K.

1983-Present: Leader of more than thirty long-term research and consultancy projects in river hydrodynamics, eco-hydraulics, sediment transport, fluvial geomorphology, and hydrology.

Publications

Update

Biography

Recent Awards and Distinctions

Qualifications

Memberships and Affiliations

Research Overview

Current Research

Collaborations

Funding and Grants

Flow-plant interactions in open-channel flows: a comparative analysis of five freshwater plant species

Flow-plant interactions at a leaf scale: effects of leaf shape, serration, roughness and flexural rigidity

Plant patch hydrodynamics in streams: Mean flow, turbulence, and drag forces

Biomechanical properties of aquatic plants and their effects on plant–flow interactions in streams and rivers

Interpretation of alluvial beds through bed-elevation distribution moments

Flow dynamics in alluvial channels: the legacy of Kirill V. Grishanin

Turbulent friction in flows over permeable walls

Fluvial dunes: Initiation, characterization, flow structure

Hydrodynamics of Aquatic Ecosystems: Current state, challenges, and prospects

Synoptic velocity and pressure fields at the water-sediment interface of streambeds

Flow penetration into the canopy of the submerged vegetation: definitions and quantitative estimates

Hydrodynamics of aquatic ecosystems: An interface between ecology, biomechanics and environmental fluid mechanics

Mixing layer analogy in vegetated open-channel flows: a laboratory study

Statistical characterization of bed roughness due to bed forms

Secondary flows in rivers: theoretical framework, recent advances, and current challenges

Flow-organism interactions in running waters: Interplay between flow mechanics, biomechanics, and ecology

Statistics and characteristic scales for bed load in a channel flow with sidewall effects

Turbulence structure of open channel flows over permeable and impermeable beds: A comparative study

Exner equation: a continuum approximation of a discrete granular system

Self-regulation effects in open-channel flows: application to vegetated channels

On statistical properties of bed load sediment concentration

Bed and flow dynamics leading to sediment-wave initiation

A hydraulic resistance relationship for channels with high density of submerged flexible roughness elements

Double-averaged velocity and stress distributions for hydraulically-smooth and transitionally-rough turbulent flows

Double-averaged velocity profiles over fixed dune shapes

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