HYDRAULIC RESEARCH FLUME
FACILITIES
The natural environment is filled with unpredictability and mutually dependent variables. Because it is often difficult to determine direct cause and effect type responses with this tremendous variability, it is helpful to conducted experiments in controlled settings. Research flumes are used to simulate river flow processes in this type of controlled setting. The National Science Foundation provided funding for a 6-m long, recirculating flume that is used to study fluvial processes common in pools and riffles. The flume has a total length of 8 m with a working channel that is 6-m long, 0.5-m wide and 0.3-m deep. The flume can be tilted from 0% to 5% slope. Water depths can be controlled with the use of a downstream tailgate (dam). The discharge in the flume can also be varied up to 40 liters/second (10 gallons/second). The flume is considered a recirculating design, meaning that the same water and sediment travel down the length of the flume and is pumped back upstream. The flume is capable of pumping both water and sediment (up to ¾”) in this cycle.
The flume is used primarily for research on channel morphology and pool hydraulics. The accompanying experiments allow for replication of the processes important in creating natural channel variations in bed elevation. This channel morphology is critical for aquatic habitat formation. The results from the research are intended to aid in design of river-restoration projects. Many channel-restoration designers need detailed information on proper design and characteristics of pools and riffles to insure project success.
The flume was delivered with ‘some assembly required’. The unit was built in Minnesota by Engineering Laboratory Design Inc. and moved to the Olin Science Center basement during the Fall of 1999.
View towards the head (upstream end) of the flume during the final stages of assembly.
Flow moves along an 8” pipe below the frame (barely visible) and is turned downstream by the large, blue headbox.
Flow exits the headbox and begins to develop ‘typical’ river flow characteristics in the upstream channel.
Flow continues into the measurement section where experiments are conducted. Finally flow plunges out the end of the channel back into the large blue reservoir. The large pump on the floor recirculates this flow back up towards the head of the flume.
This material is based upon work supported by
the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 9874751. Any opinions,
findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National
Science Foundation.
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