Professor Vladimir Nikora | The University of Aberdeen

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 (2006-2024), School of Engineering, 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

2025 24th Harold Jan Schoemaker Award of IAHR

2025 Fellow of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR)

2021 EWRI/ASCE Best Technical Note Award

2019 Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK

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

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

2011 Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland

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

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

External Memberships

Member of the Council of the International Association of Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR), 2017-2023
Secretary/Chair/Past-Chair/Member of the IAHR Committee on Experimental Methods and Instrumentation, 2001-2015.
Vice-Chair (2017-2021), Chair (2021-23), and Past Chair (since 2023) of the IAHR Committee on Fluid Mechanics.
Editor, IAHR Journal of Hydraulic Research, 2011-2016.
Advisory Editor, IAHR Journal of Ecohydraulics, since 2016.
Associate Editor, IAHR Journal of Hydraulic Research, since 2017.
Associate Editor, Water Resources Research (AGU), 2006-2011.
Associate Editor, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering (ASCE), 2007-2011.
Member of Editorial Board, Acta Geophysica (Springer), since 2009.
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 in water engineering, hydraulics, and fluid mechanics.
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 over 20 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

Collaborations

Current

INRAE (Lyon, France): hydrodynamics of shallow flows
Leibnitz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology (Germany): open-channel turbulence and flow-biota interactions
University College London (UK): secondary currents in wall-bounded flows (EPSRC)
University of Southampton (UK): secondary currents in wall-bounded flows (EPSRC)
University of Glasgow (UK): secondary currents in wall-bounded flows (EPSRC)
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA, New Zealand): flow-biota interactions, sediment transport, turbulence
Tsinghua University (China): open-channel flow, turbulence, flow-biota interactions
Hohai University (China): open-channel flow turbulence, river confluences
Wuhan University (China): sediment transport, channel dynamics
Sichuan University (China): braided rivers, channel dynamics
Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw, Poland): sediment transport, river turbulence, and dispersion
Polytechnic University of Turin (Torino, Italy): open-channel turbulence

Past

CNRS and University Claude Bernard (Lyon, France): flow-biota interactions
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany): rough-bed flow hydrodynamics, turbulence, and sediment transport
University of Braunschweig (Germany): rough-bed flow hydrodynamics, eco-hydraulics, and sediment transport
University of Dresden (Germany): rough-bed flow hydrodynamics, turbulence, and sediment transport
Technical University of Milano (Italy): sediment transport and turbulence
University of Padova (Italy): sediment transport and turbulence

Funding and Grants

2021-2025: "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

External Memberships

Research Overview

Collaborations

Funding and Grants

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

Flow structure over square bars at intermediate submergence: Large Eddy Simulation study of bar spacing effect

Hydraulic resistance due to aquatic vegetation in small streams: Field study

Rough-bed flows in geophysical, environmental, and engineering systems: Double-Averaging Approach and its applications. Preface to the Special Issue

Spatially-averaged oscillatory flow over a rough bed

Spatially averaged turbulent stress and its partitioning

SWAT.Nz: New-Zealand-based "Sand Waves and Turbulence" experimental programme

A unifying framework for particle entrainment

A viscous drag concept for flow resistance in vegetated channels

Stream Bank Erosion: In Situ Flume Tests

Erosion of Cohesive Sediments: Resuspension, Bed Load, and Erosion Patterns from Field Experiments

A submersible device for measuring drag forces on aquatic plants and other organisms

Effects of flume characteristics on the assessment of drag on flexible macrophytes and a rigid cylinder

Hydrodynamics of aquatic ecosystems: spatial-averaging perspective

Quadrant analysis of persistent spatial velocity perturbations over square-bar roughness

Hydraulic resistance in vegetated channels: A viscous drag based model

Spatially Averaged Turbulent Flow over Square Ribs

Subelement Form-Drag Parameterization in Rough-Bed Flows

Turbulence structure in vegetated and un-vegetated channels: A comparative analysis

Fish swimming speed variability at constant flow: Galaxias maculatus

Statistical properties of armored gravel bed surfaces

The effect of spatial heterogeneity in soil properties on erosion pattern: A conceptual model and computer simulations

Characteristics of turbulent unidirectional flow over rough-beds: Double-averaging perspective with particular focus on sand dunes and gravel beds

Equilibrium hydrodynamics concept for developing dunes

Application of UVP within porous beds

A lattice Boltzmann-based model of plankton-flow interaction around a mussel cluster.

A PIV investigation into the interaction between wave motion and sediment ripples.

Data interpretation for in situ measurements of cohesive sediments

Double-averaging methodology in stochastic modelling of soil erosion.

Effects of aquatic and bank-side vegetation on hydraulic performance of small streams.

Marbles in oil, just like a river?

On the definition of the shear velocity in rough bed open channel flows.

Spatially-averaged turbulent flow over square-rib roughness.

Spectral scaling in Mars topography: effect of craters.

The debate about drag and reconfiguration of freshwater macrophytes: comparing results obtained by three recently discussed approaches.

The effect of heterogeneity in soil properties on erosion pattern: a conceptual model and computer simulations.

Three-dimensional properties of laboratory sand waves obtained from two-dimensional autocorrelation analysis.

Martian topography: Scaling, craters, and high-order statistics.

Bed-load effects on hydrodynamics of rough-bed open-channel flows

Equilibrium sand waves in rivers.

Flow turbulence over mobile gravel bed: spectral scaling and coherent structures.

High-order structure functions for planet surfaces: a turbulence metaphor.

Linking scales of flow variability to lotic ecosystem structure and function.

Mercury in lakes and lake fishes on a conservation-industry gradient in Brazil.

Three-Dimensional measurement of laboratory submerged bed forms using moving probes.

Effects of physical factors on cohesive sediment erosion.

Hydrodynamic effects in aquatic ecosystems.

Mars topography: bulk statistics and spectral scaling.

Mass-transfer-controlled nitrogen and phosphorus uptake by stream periphyton: a conceptual model and experimental evidence.

Periphyton-flow interactions and mass-transfer-uptake processes.

Probability distribution function approach in stochastic modelling of soil erosion.

Sediment flocs: settling velocity, flocculation factor, and optical backscatter

Spatial averaging concept for rough-bed open-channel and overland flows.

Velocity distribution in the roughness layer of rough-bed flows

Water-worked gravel surfaces: high-order structure functions at the particle scale.

A straight benthic flow-through flume for in situ measurement of cohesive sediment dynamics

Closure to 'Despiking ADV Data'.

Cohesive sediment transport: model development and testing.

Effects of bed material composition on cohesive sediment erosion.

Effects of fish size, time-to-fatigue, and turbulence on swimming performance: a case study of Galaxias maculatus (inanga).

Hydrodynamic effects in aquatic ecosystems with a focus on periphyton.

On turbulence effects on fish swimming performance: a case study of the New Zealand native fish Galaxias Maculatus (inanga).

Spatially-averaged flow over ribbed roughness: a new application of quadrant analysis.

On bed particle diffusion in gravel bed flows under weak bed load transport

De-spiking Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter data.