Author(s): Yushu Xie; Bruce Melville; Asaad Shamseldin; Colin Whittaker

Linked Author(s): Asaad Yahia Shamseldin, Colin Whittaker, Bruce W. Melville

Keywords: Smart sediment particle; Particle entrainment; Inertial measurement unit; Flume experiment

Abstract: The entrainment process of sediment particles plays a vital role in hydraulic engineering and can be employed for the design of channel stability, scour protection, etc. Due to the dynamic nature of turbulent flows, and the complexity of particle-fluids interaction, it is always challenging to conduct particle-entrainment studies of high accuracy, even in laboratories. This study presents a new experimental technique for measuring sediment particle entrainment using a “Smart Sediment Particle (SSP),” which is an artificial sphere with instrumented Inertial Measurement Units (IMU). The embedded electronic devices inside the SSP enable the measurement of linear accelerations, and thus the hydrodynamic forces acting on the sediment particle can be obtained (Figure). We designed and performed a series of flume experiments in the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory at the University of Auckland. The SSP was placed on top of a bed comprising spherical particles in a hexagonally packed arrangement. The 3D particle accelerations were recorded for slowly increasing flow rate until the instant of particle entrainment. At the same time, the velocity field was measured using Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV).

DOI:

Year: 2023