Ven Te Chow Hydrosystems Laboratory

Facilities: Annular Flume

The Ven Te Chow Hydrosistems Laboratory annular flume was constructed by Engineering Laboratory Design, Inc. of Lake City, Minnesota. The channel-lid system is supported by a five leg frame of welded steel structural tubing. The channel is made of laminated fiberglass with glass smooth finishing of interior surface. Its bottom rest on an aluminum board, which is supported in position by five rollers attached to the lower part of the external frame. The annular shaped channel has a mean diameter of 130 cm, a width of 20 cm and a depth of 45 cm. Placed on its outer wall a 35 cm by 40 cm Plexiglas window allows to observe inside of the flume. Various small taps placed on the outer wall of the channel allow taking water samples from different depths.

The lid of the flume is fabricated of Plexiglas bolted to a five arms steel supporting frame. This frame is mounted on a threaded shaft. The lid can be raised or lowered on this shaft allowing flow depths between 20 and 40 cm. Three holes on the lid allow the insertion measuring devices into the flow. A wooden shelf is mounted on the lid support arms to hold the data logger of the measuring devices and other equipments.

The lid and the channel can rotate independently powered by two electric motors. A control system composed by two magnetic sensors, two motor controllers and control software implemented in Labview can be used to set the direction and the speed of rotation of the lid and channel independently. The maximum turning speeds are +/-16 RPM and +/-10 RPM for the lid and channel respectively.

Annular flume.