The State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science (hereinafter referred to as “the lab”), was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in December of 2003 to be established in Wuhan University. The lab passed the acceptance evaluation of the Ministry of Science and Technology in October, 2006, and passed national evaluations in 2008 and 2013. Currently, Professor Lu Wenbo serves as the laboratory chief and academician Wang Hao serves as chairman of the academic committee. The lab focuses on basic and applied research in the following five areas: spatial and temporal distribution of water resources and its integrated management; water-saving irrigation and its environmental effects; flow and sediment movement and river regulation; safety of hydraulic structure and reservoir-dam system; and operation safety and control of hydropower station. The lab consists of five research sections, i.e. hydrology and water resources, agricultural irrigation, river engineering, hydraulic structure, and hydropower station operation and management.

Over the last five years, the lab has made a number of outstanding research achievements, including “the key technology in regulating the utilization of giant reservoir-group floodwater in the changing environment”, “the theory and application of regulating the precise amount of water and salt in the soil of irrigated areas”, “the simulation and regulation of river flow and sediment movement”, “The evolution and safety control of the system of hydropower engineering dams and reservoirs”, and “the transient process of hydropower stations to pumped storage power stations and the process control”. All of these achievements have advanced the technology underlying water resources and hydropower engineering science and have contributed to China being among the best in the world in this field. Since 2004, the lab has won 12 second prizes of the National Science &Technology Progresses Award, and 28 prizes of the provincial and ministerial S&T progress awards and natural science awards, of which the lab has won 17 first prizes. The lab has over 60 academic books published and has authored over 60 special reports at important domestic and international academic conferences. The lab has over 200 high-level academic papers published every year, of which there are over a hundred SCI papers. Its research achievements have been applied in large hydropower engineering projects, including the Three Gorges Dam, the Longtan Dam, Jinping Hydropower Station, the Xiluodu Dam, the Pubugou Dam, and the Baihetan Dam. They have also been applied in the construction and management of large national hydraulic engineering projects, including reinforcing reservoirs and harnessing the Huaihe River and the central route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

The lab covers an area of 13,000 square meters. Since the lab was approved in 2003, it has purchased and independently developed 56 large equipment(each is worth at least 200,000yuan), including an automatic hydrologic data telemetering system, MAT253 isotope mass spectrometers, large lysimeters for irrigation and drainage system, a progressive demolition system for dams, coupled THM testers, a system for testing the flow-induced vibration of hydraulic structures, computer-controlled static and dynamic triaxial testing machines, and a multi-field coupling test system for servo-controlled triaxial rock mechanics. The lab’s assets are worth 61.7867million yuan and all of its instruments and equipment are worth nearly 80 million yuan. With all of these facilities, researchers can conduct various sophisticated and comprehensive research and experiment in water resources and hydropower engineering. The comprehensive experimental system for irrigation, drainage, hydrology, and water ecology, the experimental system for the transient processes and control of hydropower stations, and the system for pumped storage experiments are all distinctive both domestically and internationally.

For years, the lab has shared its large instruments, equipment, and platforms with scholars from other organizations.Scholars from the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing Normal University, China University of Geosciences (in Wuhan), Changsha University of Science & Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Tibet University, the Angola Program of Sinohydro Group Limited have all visited the lab and made use of the lab’s equipment to conduct experiments and research for major engineering projects organized by the National Natural Science Foundation, for international engineering projects, and for water resources and hydropower engineering projects. The utilization rate of large instruments and equipment is over 83%. In addition, the lab has developed large lysimeter control systems for irrigation and drainage, among other experimental instruments and equipment, for over 30 organizations in China. It has also undertaken the construction of relevant experimental systems. These efforts have increased the lab’s reputation.

The lab is a platform for scientific and technological innovation in water resources and hydropower engineering. Following the guideline of “openness, flexibility, competition, and cooperation”, the lab has set up the Visiting Research Fund in five research areas and welcomes applications from domestic and overseas researchers.

Address: No.299 Bayi Road,, Wuhan, P.R. China

Postal Code: 430072

Tel: 86-27-68772275

Fax: 86-27-68772275

E-mail:wrhes@whu.edu.cn

Website:http://waterlab.whu.edu.cn