0.4 m tilting flume
The Water Research Laboratory’s newest flume measures approximately 10 m in length, 0.4 m in width and 0.8 m in depth. The flume floor is constructed of acrylic and the walls are constructed from glass, allowing our researchers and engineers to make visual observations of the sides and bed of the flume.
The tilting flume is equipped with a winch that can lift the flume to a grade of 10%, allowing the flume to be used in a wide range of flow conditions. The recirculation system can produce flow rates of up to 130 L/s, allowing a range of flow conditions to be tested. The flume can quickly test the effect of both slope and flow rate on stability, sedimentation or a range of other parameters.
The flume was designed to be used for sedimentation studies, where tightly controlled flow conditions are needed to assess sediment fall rates, bed load transport and other fundamental characteristics of sediments in flow. But the flume has wide application for fundamental and applied research on open channel flows.