Founded in 1956, the Department is the main body of the Key Laboratories of Hydraulics, Sediment Sciences and River Harness of the Ministry of Water Resources and the main body of Soil Conservation Ecological Engineering Technology Research Center of the Ministry of Water Resources. It is mainly engaged in the development and governance of major rivers and the sediment problems in large water resources, hydropower, thermal power, and nuclear power projects. The Department has 4 large laboratories, with a total construction area of 14,000 m2.

The Department has 6 research sections with a total staff of 43, including 1 academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, 7 professor-level senior engineers, 14 senior engineers and 17 engineers. 11 of them have a doctoral degree and 12 have a Master's degree.

Section of River Governance and Engineering Project Sedimentation

·   Basic theory for sediment movement and riverbed evolution

·   Guideline and methodology for river course regulation

·   Sediment in water intake and water release structures of thermal/nuclear power plants

·   Sediment problems and treatment in canal system and intake of hydropower plants

·   Guideline and methodology for sediment clearance and dredging of rivers, lakes and reservoirs

Movable bed model test on the confluent region of the Yellow, Weihe and Luohe Rivers

Evolution of the Yellow River Estuary

Section of Estuary and Coast Sedimentation

·   Sediment movement and evolution at estuaries and coasts

·   Storm surge forecasting and disaster assessment

·   Estuarine navigation waterway regulation measures

·   Sedimentation in the harbor area and area downstream gates and their reduction techniques

·   Sediment problems in warping engineering projects

Storm surge forecasting system for estuary and coast

Debris flow confluence flume test

Artificial rainfall landslide flume test

Section of Reservoir and Lake Sedimentation

·   Reservoir sedimentation

·   Influence of water sediment dispatching and operation mode on upstream and downstream river courses

·   Sediment problem and control in the backwater area of reservoir

·   Sedimentation form and mitigation measures in front of dam and in front of sediment sluices

·   Density current in reservoir and its application

·   Movement features and laws of evolution of lake flow and sediment

Numerical simulation for density flow in the Liujiaxia Reservoir

Section of Soil and Water Conservation

·   Temporal and spacial distribution of soil erosion in catchments

·   Coupling relationship between sediment yield in catchments and its transport in rivers

·   Mechanism and forecast model for slope and gully erosion

·   Experiments on soil erosion and sediment generation

·   Modes of comprehensive management and their adaptability

Site monitoring for wind- and water-induced erosion

Section of Sediment Disaster and Prevention

·   Formation, movement and accumulation mechanism of debris flows

·   Formation mechanism of landslide and collapse

·   Prevention measures for debris flow disaster

·   Prevention measures for landslide and collapse

·   Movement of hyper-concentration flow and the application

Landslide of mountain mass

Section of Sediment Simulation

·   Fundamental study on non-uniform sediment transport

·   Similarity theory for physical model of sediment

·   Development and application of 1-D, 2-D and 3-D numerical models

·   Numerical simulation of hyper-concentrated flow

·   Automatic control and measurement technology for physical model test

Suspend sediment concentrations in the Lingdingyang Sea computed by 3D numerical model