Story

Under the leadership of Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences Ivan Vasilyevich Egiazarov, as a result of the transfer in 1939 of the material and technical base of the 1924 Hydroelectric Laboratory operating in Leningrad to Armenia and the merger with the water resources sector operating as part of the Institute of Geology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, the Scientific Research Institute of Hydropower of the Academy of Sciences was formed THE USSR. The Water and Energy Research Institute was later renamed the Research Center for Water Problems. The institute existed until 1963, then it joined the Scientific Research Center of the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Land Reclamation of the Ministry of Water Economy of the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1948), and the Scientific Research Center for Water Problems and Hydraulic Engineering was formed within the same ministry (1963). In 1996, as a result of denationalization, the State Scientific Research Center for Water Problems and Hydraulic Engineering was transformed into CJSC, Institute of Water Problems and Hydraulic Engineering named after Academician I.V. Egiazarov.

Since its foundation, the institute has been the only universally recognized scientific center for researching water issues in the republic.

The Institute of Water Issues and Hydraulic Engineering of the Republic of Armenia used to occupy the three-story building next to the current drama theater. Over the years, the institute was filled with high-quality specialists, whose research work was widely recognized in the USSR and abroad. Extensive cooperation was established with water construction design institutes, polytechnics, agricultural institutes and construction organizations in the water sector. In the 1970s, the number of places allocated only for first-year students of the hydraulic engineering faculty of the polytechnic institute was 100-125. More than 10% of the graduates of that profession later became academicians, doctors of science and candidates.

In the conditions of the construction of hydrotechnical structures unfolding in the republic, the institute needed to have new research laboratories. With the efforts of academician I.V. Yeghiazarov, a new building of the institute was built in Nork, with two two-story laboratories for hydraulic research and a chemical laboratory for water quality determination. The institute was staffed with young specialists, with the help of which models of many hydraulic structures were developed and built, and the sizes of future structures were determined by tests on them. Large-scale studies were conducted to determine the underground water reserves of the Ararat plain, based on which many projects were carried out on their use.

In the laboratory of hydraulic research, models of the culvert were built, on which the structural features, types and sizes of coastal protection measures of mountain rivers were determined based on the results of the tests.

A large amount of theoretical and experimental research was carried out on the protection of pipelines against non-stationary fluid movement, in particular, hydraulic shock. In those years, serious theoretical researches were carried out on the problem of river bed formation, and the theory of water structure named “Margaritka” was developed and given. This water line has been installed on all relatively large reservoirs in the Republic of Armenia, which makes it possible to significantly increase the useful volume of the reservoir.

Starting from the 1970s, the boundaries of the geography of the work carried out at the institute expanded. The institute received orders to carry out model laboratory studies of the Zaramag and Sovetakan hydroelectric junctions of the Kabardino-Balkaria Autonomous Republic of Russia, as well as the Samanala-Veva hydroelectric junctions of the Republic of Sri Lanka. The newly created institute was provided with young active personnel.

In those years, 27 candidates of sciences and 5 doctors of sciences worked at the institute, who regularly published their scientific results in various international and republican periodicals and conference materials.

In the first years of the republic’s independence, the orders given to the institute gradually decreased, only the scientific research topics given by the Scientific Committee remained, and in the conditions of minimal funding, it was not possible to carry out large-scale modeling works. However, in 1992-93, without funding, research work on the determination of energy indicators on a model of a hydroturbine unit based on a centrifugal pump was started, and a 30 kW mini hydropower plant was installed on the Sovetashen reservoir. In wartime conditions, the provision of lighting on the dam of the reservoir made it possible to protect the structure from possible interference. For this purpose, small HPPs were also built on the pressure fronts of Akhuryan and Aparan reservoirs. At the same time, the design and construction works of a two-barrel bucket hydroturbine with a capacity of up to 500 kW and its electronic controller were carried out.

A Bank-type flat-jet hydroturbine was designed and built, which was installed in Elegis-7, the first built hydroelectric power plant in the years of independence, designed by the employees of Yerevan University of Architecture and Construction.

1997-98 developed, designed and installed the automatic system of protection against hydraulic shock of the 1st stage pumping pipelines of the Mkhchyan pumping station, which is still in operation today. With the implementation of this system, frequently repeated pipeline breaks in case of emergency power outages were excluded.

In 2008, by the Yerevan University of Architecture and Construction and the Institute of Water Issues and Hydraulic Engineering. a joint study center was formed. After the repair of the roof of the hydraulic research laboratory, the works of interior decoration and then the repair of models of hydraulic structures of great importance began.

On the second floor of the laboratory, test equipment for hydraulics, water supply, and hydraulic machines were built, on which almost all laboratory works provided by the curricula of these subjects are carried out. For years, the students of Yerevan University of Architecture and Construction and the higher institutions of the Ministry of Defense have performed the laboratory work provided by their educational programs in that laboratory.

The importance of the laboratory in training young professionals is extremely high. Until 2014 The students of the Yerevan State University of Architecture and Construction took hydraulics and hydraulic engineering classes at the institute. 2016 students of Shushi University of Technology undergo trial training at the institute.

On two floors of the laboratory, experimental devices for conducting scientific studies were built: suction system for automatic operation of a centrifugal pump, suitable device for ventilation and aeration, test devices for determining the mass of petroleum products in a vertical cylindrical container, obtaining biogas from homogeneous biomass, and air emissions from the end of a pressure pipeline. Based on the results of research on these, investments were made on the Hermon-Yelpin gravity pipeline and the Saralanj pumping station. The model of the experimental hydro node built on the 1st floor of the laboratory deserves special attention. It includes a 30 square meter mirror pool with a rectangular section, a gravity dam and an automatic metal check valve, which replaces the reinforced concrete structure called “hydroplus” which is widely used in France. The sluice valve is intended for the accumulation of an additional volume of the flood outlet or a part of it in the reservoir. The valve has a number of advantages compared to the French one. They are: it is cheap, it is reliable, it is installed on the spillway lip of the dam, like the French one, and on any drainage structure, but the French one is not. has the ability to adjust the opening-closing speed and, most importantly, it is installed once. RA Prime Minister T. According to Sargsyan’s instruction, it was decided to present the valve for patenting in Europe, but the function was delayed and forgotten.

Most of the scientific research works carried out in the institute have ended up being implemented in production.

Since 1997, the institute has been operating the scientific degree awarding professional council No. 055, which has the right to award scientific degrees in two specialties: ID.04.02 “Terrestrial hydrology, water resources, water chemistry” and E.23.05 “Water economic systems and their exploitation”. stairs. 01.01.2018 As of now, 75 dissertations have been defended in the institute’s professional council No. 055, of which 14 are doctoral, and 61 are doctoral theses. All of them have been approved by the WHO.

At present, there are about 300 operating pumping stations in the irrigation system of the republic, a transition from mechanical water supply to gravity is being carried out, for which purpose gravity aqueducts have been built and continue to be built, many small hydropower plants have been built, and several reservoirs are being designed and are under construction. There is a severe shortage of qualified personnel for the operation of these structures, and replacements for adult specialists are difficult to find. Training courses for irrigation system specialists were organized years ago with funding from the World Bank. In the current conditions, it is necessary to organize such courses, for which the institute’s capabilities, personnel, classrooms, experimental locations are quite sufficient.

The result of all this was that in 1996 the Armenian National Association of Hydraulic Research was established and in the same year it was included in the International Association of Hydraulic Research, which enabled Armenian specialists to enter the international arena more actively. It is important to note that academician I.V. Yeghiazarov was one of the two creators of the International Association of Hydraulic Research.

1999 after long discussions, the Institute and one of its leading specialists, Doctor of Technical Sciences VG.Sanoyan, was awarded a diploma of scientific discovery established by the Academy of Natural Sciences of the Russian Federation. This was a great honor for both the institute and the author.

The works of the Institute’s employees are published in the leading scientific journals, periodicals and proceedings of international scientific conferences in the USA, Holland, China, Japan, the Russian Federation, Georgia, Syria, Ukraine and Armenia.

The Institute is a member of the International Society for Hydraulic Research and regularly exchanges scientific and technical information with more than 70 international organizations.

In recent years, the institute has received dozens of invention patents and published about 400 scientific works.

The institute is located at 125 Armenakyan Street, Yerevan. The institute owns a 9-story furnished building, a 2-story laboratory research building with an area of about 2200 square meters, a water and soil laboratory. The institute is equipped with comprehensive equipment and necessary programs for hydraulic engineering and hydraulic calculations.