Turbulence
Turbulent flows refers to fluids whose motion is characterized by unsteady movements. Turbulence is predominant in most natural and industrial systems - atmospheric and oceanic currents, river flows, flows in pipes, flows interacting with objects like airplanes, submarines, and wind turbines, and even blood flow throughout the body are examples of turbulent flow. SAFL researchers focus on advancing the physical understanding of turbulence and other non-linear phenomena by using experiments, field work, and computational fluid dynamics to better identify patterns and structures in turbulent flow. Complex effects such as scale interactions, multiphase flows, and other flow instabilities are studied, with the goal of being able to better control and predict turbulent flow in engineering applications and analysis.
SAFL Affiliated Faculty
Michele Guala
Jiarong Hong
Lian Shen
Read more about SAFL's turbulence related projects/research:
(filter "turbulence" if needed)
Evaluating the effectiveness of pretreatment practices for rain gardens
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The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of different pretreatment devices in Minnesota. The objective was to gather quantitative data using a common method that will allow for comparisons across devices.
Evaluating permeable pavement as an alternative to road salt application
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The Minnesota Department of Transportation tasked SAFL researchers with evaluating the use of unsalted permeable pavement in comparison to traditional impermeable salted pavement. Permeable pavement refers to a surface where water can infiltrate into pavement and ultimately become groundwater, rather than running off pavement into the stormwater system.
Broadway Pump Station Physical Model
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After a 2011 flood caused extensive damage in Minot, North Dakota, MWH Americas, Inc. was hired to design a pumping station as part of the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Plan, to pump stormwater over the river levee during flood events. The applied engineering team at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory was then tasked to build a physical model of the proposed pumping station to identify and mitigate unanticipated/unacceptable flow patterns prior to construction.
Long-throated U-flume study
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SAFL researchers built a scale model of a round-bottomed long-throated flume, in order to validate Winflume software for this specific flume geometry.