Development of Instrumented Experimental Facility for the Study of Large Scale River Morphology, Stratigraphy, and Landscape Evolution

9512472帕克这项学术研究基础设施赠款提供250,000美元，作为发展大型河流地貌、地层和景观演变研究的实验设施的一半支持。该设施将建在明尼苏达大学圣安东尼瀑布水力实验室，现有的室内水池长14.3米，宽7.3米。该盆地的主要组成部分将包括模拟各种水文状况的造雨器、模拟构造隆起和沉降的铰链底板、积水区域以及沿盆地的水和泥沙供给点。盆地的所有要素都将由计算机控制，并由数据采集系统进行监测。数据采集系统的主要子系统将是两台计算机控制的激光剖面仪，用于精确测量微地貌；一个粒子成像测速系统，用于瞬时测量地表流速；一个光学成像系统，用于瞬时确定河道深度；以及一个立体成像系统，用于确定整体地形。该项目将由一名土木工程师、一名沉积学家、一名环境工程师、一名农业工程师和一名具有相当电子知识的工程师组成的跨学科团队建设和使用。该盆地将在水下和水下两种模式下运行，允许研究河流过程和陆地景观演变，以及研究大陆架、坡度和隆起的演化。这种自动化的中间层允许控制控制变量，并在时间和空间尺度上进行监测，这在实地情况下是不易观察到的。这一设施应在模拟和实地研究之间架起一座桥梁，加速开发新的预测工具，并打算向广泛的外部研究人员提供这一设施。***

9512472 Parker This Academic Research Infrastructure grant provides $250,000 as one-half support of the development of an experimental facility for the study of large scale river morphology, stratigraphy and landscape evolution. The facility will be constructed at the St. Anthony Falls Hydraulic Laboratory, University of Minnesota in an existing indoor basin that is 14.3 m long and 7.3 m wide. The main elements of the basin will include, a rainmaker for simulating various hydrologic regimes, a hinged floor to simulate tectonic uplift and subsidence, a zone of ponded water and feed points for water and sediment along the basin. All elements of the basin are to be computer controlled and monitored by a data acquisition system. The main subsystems of the data acquisition system will be two computer controlled laser profilers for precision measurements of microrelief, a particle imaging velocimetry system for instantaneous measurement of surface flow velocities, an optical imaging system for instantaneous determination of channel depth and a stereoimaging system for determination of overall topography. This project is to be constructed and utilized by an interdisciplinary team consisting of a civil engineer, a sedimentologist, an environmental engineer, an agricultural engineer and an engineer with considerable knowledge of electronics. The basin is to be operable in both subaerial and subaqueous mode allowing for studies of both riverine processes and terrestrial landscape evolution and studies of continental shelf, slope and rise evolution. An automated mesocosm of this kind allows for the control of governing variables and monitoring on time and spatial scales that are not easily observed in field situations. This facility should provide a bridge between simulation and field research that hastens the development of new predictive tools and it is intended that the facility be made available to a broad spectrum of outside researchers. ***