The Hydrotechnical Group research includes the areas of lake dynamics, fluvial hydraulics, river engineering, coastal engineering and water distribution systems. A common theme in many of these areas is sediment motion, which requires the application of fluid mechanics, physical modelling and mathematical modelling to both steady and oscillating conditions. Research is also underway into the evaluation and mitigation of short and long term anthropogenic impacts on rivers, lakes and estuaries, including physical impacts such as channel incision, increased bank erosion, etc., and environmental impacts such as hypoxia, harmful algae blooms and loss of quality of the aquatic environment for animal species. Further research topics include coastal hydrodynamics and power generation, and long term coastal erosion and protection. Extensive experimental research, carried out at the Coastal Engineering Laboratory, and advanced numerical modeling are used, and often conducted in collaboration with faculty in other areas of civil engineering (environmental, geotechnical and structural), other departments at Queen's (Mechanical Engineering, Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics and Statistics) and other research institutes (National Water Research Institute and National Research Council).