Albrook Hydraulics Laboratory: Mirror of Societal Needs in Hydraulics

The Albrook Hydraulics Laboratory was constructed literally around an early physical model at the Washington State University Pullman campus. Since the first model study approximately fifty years ago, the laboratory facility was enlarged two more times as a response to the growing demand for model studies with the expansion of hydroelectric projects in the Pacific Northwest. In the last two decades, society has come to question the very existence of dams due in great part to the steady decline of salmonid populations in the region. Thus, activities at the laboratory have shifted from evaluating construction to evaluating operation and restoration. This paper will retrace the evolution in hydraulics in the Pacific Northwest using laboratory projects as indicators.