FELKEL

GERMANY (see also List of Individuals)

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9.11.1919 Gross-Olbersdorf/CR - 27.8.2001 Karlsruhe/D

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Karl Felkel graduated as a civil engineer from Stuttgart Technical University in 1951 and in 1956 there submitted a PhD thesis. From 1958 he was associated with Bundesanstalt für Wasserbau BAW in Karlsruhe, where he was responsible for river engineering projects and the interrelation between ships and waterways. He retired from BAW in 1984 but continued as a consultant.

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Felkel contributed mainly to river engineering. His first papers relate to backwater effects in rivers which he tackled graphically for particular river cross-sectional shapes. In another paper flood waves in rivers were investigated using a step-by-step method. Felkel took interest from the 1960s in concerns relating to the sediment management of the Upper River Rhine, from Basel to downstream of Karlsruhe. His 1961 paper gives an overview on the historical development along the so-called Binger-Loch reach of the river, located in the Rheinland-Pfalz County some 60 km downstream of Frankfurt. These narrows of the river reach posed significant problems to navigation until the 19th century when parts where exploded to decrease the flow velocity by deepening the river bed. In the 1974 paper, Felkel presented model observations that allowed navigating with only one main fairway across the Binger-Loch. In parallel, Felkel added significantly to means against the erosion of the Upper Rhine. He proposed in 1969 the addition of sediment in its upstream reach to counter erosion of the river bed over a total length of some 350 km, with considerable consequences to civil engineering structures, navigation and environment. These were then tested in the 1970s with the so-called Freistetter-Versuche, as described in 1977.

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_{Felkel, K. (1958). Die Berechnung der Staukurve mit dem Integrierverfahren. Die Bautechnik}

_{35(4): 121-125.}

_{Felkel, K. (1961). Strombau-Geschichte der Binger-Loch-Strecke des Rheins. Beiträge zur Rheinkunde 12: 26-44.}

_{Felkel, K. (1963). Modelluntersuchungen für Rhein bei Bingen. Wasserwirtschaft 53(6): 206- 213.}

_{Felkel, K. (1969). Reinhaltung des Rheins. gwf/Wasser-Abwasser 110(30): 801-810.}

_{Felkel, K. (1974). Modellversuche für den Ausbau der Binger-Loch-Strecke des Rheins mit nur einer Schiffahrtsrinne. Wasserwirtschaft 64(2): 49-55.}

_{Felkel, K. (1977). Naturversuche mit künstlicher Geschiebezuführung zwecks Verhütung der Sohleneintiefung des Oberrheins. Wasserwirtschaft 67(5): 119-125.}

_{Felkel, U. (2003). Karl Felkel. Personal communication. P}