Development of an innovative method to measure dynamic pressure, erosion and deposition in environmental flows

要了解各种环境水基水流，如河流、湖泊、河口和海洋中的水流，需要对水流特性进行可靠的良好测量，例如流速和剪切力，以及泥沙(沙/淤泥/泥浆)运动，包括水和河床界面的侵蚀和沉积。现有的测量这些过程的方法利用光和声的反射，由于水中溶解和悬浮物质的干扰，特别是在有大量泥沙移动的情况下，往往存在问题和较大的误差。在这项提案中，我们建议开发一种新的实验室水箱/水槽仪器，它由许多单独的传感器组成，可以随着时间的推移以高速率测量负载(或压力)。通过将这些传感器放置在水槽中的沉积物床下，我们将能够监测水流和泥沙运动产生的负荷的变化，为我们提供有关这些过程如何工作的大量信息。这项拟议的工作将利用新的商用微型称重传感器，使传感器足够小，以提供良好的结果。这项工作是基于研究小组之前进行的概念验证开发，开发了微型称重传感器的原型阵列。这个原型的初步发现显示了有希望的结果，但也突显了对更好的电子接口和将所有电池物理连接到固定阵列的模块化方式的需求。我们在这里概述的工作建议开发定制电子设备以最大限度地减少电子干扰影响，这将达到更好的分辨率结果。电子设备将传感器的数据数字化，并将被设计成连接到计算机，计算机将被用来控制系统。单独的称重传感器将与电子设备集成在一个防水外壳内，该外壳将被设计为以坚固的“卡扣式”方式与其他传感器物理连接。通过这种方式，可以为任何调查工作创建任意大小的称重传感器阵列。在对5x5电池阵列进行功能测试后，将进行一系列实验，以检验该系统对一系列不同流动的测量能力。这些调查将以下列测量为依据：i)小型水槽中固定泥沙的不同负荷；ii)水射流对沉积物床的逐渐侵蚀；iii)密度流产生的泥沙输送和湍流；iv)高浓度水流产生的泥沙床水位变化该项目汇集了一个具有丰富电子工程经验的世界级地质科学家组成的跨学科团队。我们与利兹的凯沃斯研究所合作，利用他们的工程能力，其中包括选择性激光烧结快速制造设施，该设施可用于为集成称重传感器制造定制的防水塑料模具。调查工作的结果将通过科学期刊和会议报告在整个科学界分享。此外，我们将与政府机构、应用科学家和制造商接触，以确保从项目开发和成果中获得良好的知识转移。由于这项开发将带来技术进步，有可能导致突破性的数据分辨率水平，我们预计如果成功，我们将能够将基于这项工作的产品商业化。

Understanding various environmental water based flows like those in rivers, lakes, estuaries and the oceans require good reliable measurements of flow properties, such as velocity and shear stress, and sediment (sands/silts/muds) movement, including erosion and deposition at the interface of the water and the bed. Existing methods for measuring these processes, which utilise the reflection of light and sound, often have problems and large errors because of interference due to dissolved and suspended material within the water, particularly if there is lots of sediment moving. In this proposal we propose to develop a new laboratory tank/flume instrument that is made up of lots of individual sensors that measure load (or pressure) at high rates over time. By placing these sensors under the sediment bed in a flume tank we will be able to monitor the variations in the load produced by flow and sediment movement, giving us lots of information on how these processes work. The work proposed will make use of new commercially available miniature load cells that enable the sensors to be small enough to give good results. The work is based on previous proof-of-concept developments made by the research team, developing a prototype array of miniature load cells. The initial findings from this prototype have shown promising results but have highlighted the need for better interfacing electronics and a modular way of physically connecting all the cells into fixed arrays. The work we outline herein proposes development of custom electronics to minimise electronic interference effects, which will achieve better resolution results. The electronics will digitise the data from the sensors and will be designed to connect to a computer, which will be used to control the system. Individual load cells will be integrated with the electronics within a watertight casing that will be designed to be physically connected to other cells in a robust 'snap-on' fashion. In this way, arrays of load cells can be created of any size for any investigative work. Following functional tests on a 5x5 cell array, a series of experiments will be performed to examine how well the system can make measurements for a range of different flows. These investigations will be based on measurements taken from: i) Different loads of a fixed sediment in a small tank ii) Progressive erosion of a sediment bed by a water jet iii) Sediment transport and turbulence produced by a density current iv) Changing sediment bed levels produced by with high concentration flows The project brings together a cross-disciplinary team of world class geo-scientists with extensive electronic engineering experience. We have partnered with the Keyworth Institute in Leeds to utilise their engineering capabilities, which include a Selective Laser Sintering Rapid Manufacturing facility that can be used for creating custom made waterproof plastic moulds for the integrated load cells. The results of the investigative work will be shared throughout the scientific community through scientific journal and conference presentations. Additionally, we will engage with government agencies, applied scientists and manufacturedrs to ensure good knowledge transfer from the project developments and results. As the development will provide a technological advancement that has the potential to lead to ground breaking levels of data resolution, we anticipate that if successful we would be able to commercialise a product based on this work.