Contact: Gary Parker
Researchers: G. Parker, E. Viparelli, P. Wilcock

An imaginative field-scale experimental facility is being developed at St. Anthony Falls Laboratory as a part of NCED’s efforts in stream restoration.  The facility will allow the study of gravel-sand transport in rivers, and related ecohydraulic questions.  The facility will be operated as a water-feed sediment-recirculating flume.  As such, it offers a unique opportunity to predict the performance of a flume in advance of its operation.  The gravel transport models of Parker (1990) and Wilcock and Crowe (2002) will be combined with an active-layer formulation to obtain predictions in regard to a) the final equilibrium state achieved by the flume and b) the evolution toward that equilibrium.  The results of the study will be used not only to optimize the performance of the facility, but also to help develop future predictive models of gravel/sand transport that are more accurate and useful for stream restoration.