Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Funds are requested to design and construct a tilting open channel flume for hydraulic research at the University of Alberta. The proposed flume will have a length of 25 m, a width of 1.2 m and a depth of 0.8 m. It can be tilted to simulate the flow in rivers and open channels, and will have glass sidewalls and a glass bottom to allow flow visualization and optical measurements from any direction. The proposed flume is to replace and modernize a key flume that has been used for over 30 years. It will be a central research facility in our world-renowned Blench Hydraulics Lab, and will support research programs of five researchers in the Water Resources group. In addition, it will allow these researchers to further their research collaborations with Alberta Environment, the City of Edmonton, and Department of Fisheries and Oceans. It will provide graduate students with excellent opportunities to work on problems of importance, such as effluent mixing in rivers, river water quality improvement through oxygen injection, managing ice-covered rivers and optimizing operations with hydropower companies, and water resources management through low flow studies, and fish habitat improvement.