MRI: Acquisition of Environmental Flows Water Tunnel

对海洋和环境流体力学感兴趣的科学家和工程师参与了从深海到浅水河流的一系列基础研究。这些流动的动力学通常是复杂的，因为它们涉及在广泛的时间和空间尺度上发生的流体、地质、化学和生物过程。这些流动可能具有固定或动态的边界条件(即海床)，并且可能包含固定的工程结构(例如流体动力装置)。虽然许多流体流动问题非常适合于小规模的实验室研究，但与固定或动态边界和结构相互作用的复杂非定常多相流引起了重大的尺度问题。致力于这些复杂流动的地区教师、博士后和研究生集中的一个独特特征是，具有不同背景的研究人员利用流体物理提供的共性解决各种问题所产生的协同效应。研究工作将单独评估推进各自领域所需的基本假设。总体而言，通过贡献科学家之间的跨学科互动实现的协同作用具有极高的潜力，可以改变对工程和自然中普遍存在的复杂流体流动的理解。这一努力的目标是显著推进水生海洋和河流环境中涉及的流动物理和生物地球化学过程的模拟，这一努力将支持获得环境流动水隧道(EFWT)和分析流动和沉积物领域所需的仪器。EFWT将同时容纳振荡和稳定流，用于模拟水平波速度、潮汐流动或具有高和低速度量级的稳定流。EFWT将作为刚性盖子(非自由表面)隧道或具有减小深度自由表面的水槽/渠道运行，同时允许刚性底部边界或带有或不带有水生植物的可移动沉积物床。它还将允许对工程系统、海底高频声学特性以及海洋动能转换装置或小阵列的比例尺模型进行评价。EFWT将为解决涉及海洋和环境流体力学的基本问题提供必要的工具，并将为学术、政府和工业合作伙伴提供宝贵的地方、地区和国家资源。EFWT将允许在一系列地球物理和工程主题方面取得科学进展，这些主题需要解决河流和海洋环境中的流体-沉积物-结构相互作用。观察结果将用于促进开放源码社区的建模工作(例如基准数据集)，对影响生态系统健康的过程有一个新的理解，改进海底技术，评估海洋可再生能源设备，并为公众宣传和教育提供工具。EFWT将在新汉普郡大学通过地球科学、土木工程、机械工程和海洋工程(其新的本科专业计划)课程，以及通过大量持续的外展努力，用于动手实验室和演示目的。

Scientists and engineers interested in ocean and environmental fluid mechanics are involved in an array of fundamental research with interests ranging from the deep ocean to shallow streams. The dynamics of these flows are generally complex, as they involve fluid, geological, chemical, and biological processes occurring in a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. These flows may have either fixed or dynamic boundary conditions (i.e., seabeds) and may contained fixed engineered structures (e.g., hydrokinetic devices). While many fluid flow problems are well suited to small-scale laboratory studies, significant scaling concerns arise with complex unsteady multi-phase flows interacting with fixed or dynamic boundaries and structures. A unique feature of the concentration of the regional faculty, post-docs and graduate students working on these complex flows is the synergy that results from researchers with different backgrounds addressing a variety of problems with the commonalities provided by fluid physics. Individually, research efforts will evaluate fundamental hypotheses necessary for advancing the respective fields. Collectively, the synergies realized through transdisciplinary interactions between contributing scientists have an extremely high potential to transform understanding of the complex fluid flows that are ubiquitous in engineering and nature.With a goal towards significantly advancing the simulation of flow physics and biogeochemical processes involved in aquatic marine and riverine environments, this effort will support the acquisition of an Environmental Flows Water Tunnel (EFWT) and instrumentation required for resolving the flow and sediment fields. The EFWT will accommodate both oscillatory and steady flow for the simulation of horizontal wave velocities, tidal flows, or steady currents with both high- and low-velocity magnitudes. The EFWT will operate as a rigid-lid (non-free surface) tunnel or as a flume/channel with a reduced-depth free surface while allowing for either rigid bottom boundaries or movable sediment beds with or without aquatic vegetation. It will also allow for the evaluation of engineered systems, high frequency acoustic characterization of the seafloor, and scale model marine hydrokinetic energy conversion devices or small arrays. The EFWT will provide the instrumentation necessary for addressing fundamental questions involving ocean and environmental fluid mechanics and will serve as a valuable local, regional, and national resource for academic, governmental, and industrial partners. The EFWT will allow for scientific advancement in a range of geophysical and engineered topics that require the resolution of fluid-sediment-structure interactions in riverine and ocean environments. Observations will be used to contribute to open-source community modeling efforts (e.g., benchmark data sets), develop a novel understanding of processes that impact ecosystem health, improve undersea technology, evaluate ocean renewable energy devices, and provide a vehicle for public outreach and education. The EFWT will be used for hands-on laboratory and demonstration purposes both within University of New Hampshire through courses in earth sciences, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and ocean engineering (with its new undergraduate major program) and also, through a multitude of continuous outreach efforts.