Smart Rivers: Instrumenting watercourses to measure transport processes and assess risk

河流水力学是一个活跃的研究领域，原因包括：城市化和气候变化对地表水网络的压力；对泥沙输送等长期存在的问题的实验和数值方法的局限性；以及打开新可能性的技术进步。拟议的研究旨在开发新技术，以获得更好的信息，了解河流结构的组成部分，即储存的木材和沉积物，如何以及何时在河流中移动。理由是这些信息可以被利用来更好地评估风险。例如，当洪水期间木材和泥沙移动时，就会发生冲刷，河床高程发生变化，桥梁和下水道等已建基础设施发生木材堵塞或不稳定的风险增加。可以利用测量移动和及时传达信息来促进快速反应。在几年或几十年的时间尺度上，泥沙和木材移动的趋势支撑着河网的结构失衡，这种失衡可能是城市化和气候变化等外部力量造成的。需要网络建模工具将正确的信息提供给土地利用规划者和执业工程师。 在接下来的五年里，我的研究小组将推进尖端技术的使用，如用于沉积物跟踪的射频识别(RFID)和用于沉积物和木材运输测量的视频分析。我们将开发可从通用地理信息系统界面访问的Easy软件，并允许与不同类型的信息集成，以便城市设计师和规划者能够纳入与地表水网络相关的风险和成本。具体的例子将包括安大略省南部的高风险小溪和多伦多的顿河，那里的河口预计将在未来十年内重新归化。我们将利用先进的计算流体力学能力和CFI资助的专门建造的设施来模拟河流中的泥沙输送，以解决泥沙输送研究基础方面的知识缺口。 这项拟议的工作意义重大，因为智能河流及其相关技术将降低与洪水和河道不稳定相关的风险。这项研究将允许更顺利地适应气候变化，并协助为未来的增长和持续的恢复需求进行城市规划。研究结果还将改进溪流修复设计，并改善我们对河流中泥沙和木材运输过程的理解。

River hydraulics is an active area of research for a number of reasons including: pressures from urbanization and climate change on surface water networks; limitations in experimental and numerical approaches to longstanding problems like sediment transport; and technical advances that open up new possibilities. The proposed research aims to exploit new techniques to gain better information about how and when the building blocks of river structure, i.e. the stored wood and sediment, move in rivers. The rationale is that this information could be exploited to better assess risk. For instance, when wood and sediment move during floods, scour is occurring, bed elevations are changing, and the risk of wood jams or instability at built infrastructure such as bridges and sewers is elevated. Measuring movement and communicating that information in a timely manner could be used to facilitate rapid response. At time scales of years or decades, trends in sediment and wood movement underpin structural imbalances in river networks that can result from external forces such as urbanization and climate change. Network modelling tools are needed to put the right information into the hands of land-use planners and practicing engineers. Over the next five years, my research group will advance the use of cutting-edge techniques, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), for sediment tracking and video analysis for sediment and wood transport measurement. We will develop easy' software that is accessible from common Geographic Information System interfaces and that allows integration with different types of information so that urban designers and planners can incorporate risks and costs associated with surface stream networks. Particular examples will include high-risk creeks in Southern Ontario and the Don River in Toronto, where the estuary is expected to be re-naturalized over the next decade. We will address knowledge gaps in the fundamentals of sediment transport research using advanced computational fluid dynamics capabilities and a purpose built CFI funded facility to model sediment transport in rivers. The proposed work is significant because smart rivers and the associated technologies will reduce risk associated with flooding and channel instability. The research will allow for a smoother climate change adaptation and assist with city planning for future growth and ongoing restoration needs. The results will also improve stream restoration designs and our understanding of sediment and wood transport processes in rivers.