Dr. Sandra Frazao

Biography

Sandra Soares Frazao has a background in civil engineering and holds a doctorate in applied sciences from Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain), awarded in 2002. From 1997 to 2002, she was a research officer at FNRS where she focused on modeling dam break flows through experimental methods and numerical simulations using finite volume methods. During this time, she was involved in European projects, CADAM and IMPACT, establishing a robust international network. After her doctorate, she worked as a post-doctoral researcher and scientific collaborator until 2007, also pursuing research stays at Polytech Montpellier in France and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She continued her participation in European projects such as FLOODsite and served as a guest editor for a special issue of the Journal of Hydraulic Research. Since October 2011, she has been a professor at UCLouvain and an honorary researcher at FNRS. Her research interests focus on fluvial hydraulics, particularly on flow dynamics in natural rivers, flood propagation, and sediment transport affecting morphological changes. She utilizes numerical modeling and laboratory experiments to maintain the connection with the physical phenomena involved. Additionally, Sandra has developed experimental datasets widely used by international researchers and promotes open-source simulation tools through the Watlab project. Since 2020, she has served as vice-dean of the faculty, overseeing the integration of sustainability in engineering studies. She is an active member of IAHR and has been a president of its river hydraulics committee. In 2021, she became a full professor and was elected to the Royal Academy of Belgium in the Technology and Society class in 2024.

Research Interests

Courses