Swiss Choose Hamilton Engineering Flood Package

Thursday, 2 December 2004

Swiss Choose Hamilton Engineering Flood Package

Swiss flood specialist’s Hunziker Zarn and Partner (HZP), has selected Hamilton engineering software package AULOS as the base for a $100,000 investment in the future growth of their flood management consulting and software development business. AULOS assists managers who increasingly depend on modelling software to help them understand how a major flood would behave along a river or coastal margin, and assess flood hazards.

AULOS was developed by HYDRA Software of Hamilton, working with three other Hamilton-based companies – Hoare Research Software, Scott Technical Instruments and Barnett & MacMurray. A recent link with Dunedin-based Animation Research has added almost photorealistic animation to assist with interpretation of the resulting flood simulations.

Institution of Professional Engineers (IPENZ) Fellow and HYDRA managing director Alastair Barnett, said they were delighted with HZP’s decision as it would open the door for AULOS to German speaking Europe, where there is a big opening for flood management advances.

AULOS’ new form of mathematical modelling for water infrastructure, has already won several IPENZ awards. It has been shown to outperform overseas technology in both accuracy and speed, especially in channel networks such as urban drains and river floodways as well as hydropower canals.

HYDRA found that generations of progress by New Zealand engineers on hydropower scheme analysis had developed the basis of the world’s most powerful flood design technology. A particularly demanding test bed has been real-time operation of the giant Tekapo, Pukaki and Ohau canals in the South Island, controlling 66% of the total hydro storage of the country.

Announcing their choice, HZP evaluated various programs from Europe, America and New Zealand and decided AULOS proved to be the mature program that fulfilled the company’s demanding requirements. It was well developed from a technical point of view, and was also distinguished by a simple, clearly structured interface. The program contains the necessary features but rejects unnecessary ballast.

ENDS

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