Experimental investigation of a flexible high-water protection system in a down-scale water channel flow.

As part of an interdisciplinary major project regarding the development of a flexible and efficiently installable high-water protective system we investigated the behaviour of different system parts of flexible channel walls (thin, plastic slides/membranes) and types of self-installing water barricades subjected to different water channel flows experimentally and numerically. In the experiments we studied the strain of different flexible channel walls and the efficiency of various water barricades in a down-scale model by optical deformation, flow velocity and time measurements, respectively. We varied the water height as well as the representative flow velocity of the water channel flow and we also examined the influence of water waves onto these high-water protective system parts. Selected results will be shown and described concerning the stress on the used model-slide. In addition we applied similarity theory not only for general data presentation but also to generate findings regarding a future practical implementation in technical applications. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]