Collaborative Research: Linking turbulent flow dynamics to meandering river migration

河流是美国生活的主要渠道。它们是航运的要道，是基础设施和制造业的中心，是娱乐和野生动物的绿洲。河流的迁移往往是一个自然过程，具有深远的后果：它对桥梁和其他基础设施构成危害；改变洪水模式；随着地质时间的推移，塑造地下资源，包括地下水和碳氢化合物。该项目通过建立预测河流迁移的新工具和大学科学课程的新相关课程，推动了地球表面科学领域的发展。该项目将支持一个从山区西到东海岸的男女团队，他们共同代表两所州立大学和一所部落学院，从而进一步促进科学的多样性。这项研究的基础是一套使用更高性能计算技术的新的最先进的数学模拟。这些模拟将捕捉到水流和泥沙在前所未有的河流形状范围内的相互作用。模型预测将通过在曲折河流的比例尺模型中进行实验，并通过与地质数据集的比较来检验和改进。这些研究成果将帮助地质学家、工程师和河流科学家减轻河流灾害，管理野生动物栖息地，并确定跨越国家不断变化的景观的自然资源。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Rivers are central conduits for life in the US. They are thoroughfares for shipping, focal points for infrastructure and manufacturing, and oases for recreation and wildlife. Rivers often migrate as a natural process, one which has far-reaching consequences: it poses hazards to bridges and other infrastructure; shifts flooding patterns; and over geologic time, shapes underground resources, including groundwater and hydrocarbons. This project advances the field of Earth-surface science by building new tools to forecast river migration and a new, related curriculum for college science classes. The project will further diversity in the sciences by supporting a team of women and men from the mountain west to the east coast, who together represent two state universities and one Tribal College.A foundation of the research is a new set of state-of-the-art mathematical simulations using higher-performance computing techniques. These simulations will capture interactions between water flow and sediment transport across an unprecedented range of river shapes. Model predictions will be tested and refined using experiments in a scale model of a meandering river, and by comparison to geologic data sets. The research findings will help geologists, engineers, and river scientists to mitigate river hazards, manage wildlife habitat, and identify natural resources spanning the changing landscapes of the nation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.