PKS and Schauberger-research are part of a TV-Doku "Kur Royal" about Bad Ischl on ARTE-channel
First broadcasting: Mo., 14. May 2012, at 19:30 (replay Mo., 21. May) - and additional 7 days via Website ARTE+7:
German: http://videos.arte.tv/de/videos/kur_royal_1_5_-6648674.html
francais: http://videos.arte.tv/fr/videos/restons_en_bons_thermes_-6648674.html
Christine Sindelar finished her dissertation on Instream River Training at the Technical University Graz, Austria, especially looking at "Meandering Ramps" as constructed by river-engineer Otmar Grober - based on the work of Viktor Schauberger.
Dr. Sindelar writes:
"This thesis is inspired by the ideas of Viktor Schauberger (1885 – 1958), an Austrian forest warden, who had gained a high reputation for his well functioning economic timber-floating systems, one of which is described in the Review of World’s Forestry (Heske, Shepard 1937). His timber-floating systems took advantage of secondary flow by means of very small submerged vanes in the channel. He was an astute observer of nature rather than an academic theorist. “Comprehend and copy nature” - one of his basic principles - remained unheard in a time when people strived to control and dominate nature. Nowadays this principle is the motto of modern bionic. At Schauberger’s time though, many rivers were straightened and regulated. Schauberger was a keen fighter against such an unnatural treatment and may well be regarded as one of the first ecowarriers. About 20 of his ideas were patented. The patents concerning river engineering prove that he had an understanding of spiral flow, a concept which, due to the complexity of its theory, has not long been an issue in engineering science."
C. Sindelar's conclusion (excerpt):
"The meandering ramp is a so-called “instream” river training structure. Instream river training identifies the flow as the source of river bank damages. Rather than reinforcing the banks, small installations in the river channel are designed to direct the destructive flow away from the banks. The appropriate use of secondary flow is a key function of these structures. Jacob Odgaard has made major contributions to this topic. ... Other examples of instream river training structures such as micro groins are described [by] Sindelar & Mende (2008 [and] 2010). Although this topic is gaining significance, I personally believe that the concept of spiral flow is paid too little attention in hydraulic engineering so far."
Download to be found at: TU-Graz
As several streets in Bad Ischl have recently been renamed, PKS can now be found at either "Kaltenbach 162" or "Engleitenstrasse 17".