The CERC Eco-flume is a continuous-loop, racetrack style flume. It is housed in a 1,350 square-foot laboratory at CERC and will be used to study transport phenomena and biophysical processes in river environments.
The Eco-flume was designed and installed by engineers at the University of Minnesota, Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL).
Flume Specs: The eco-flume (Fig. 1) has an overall length of 11.4 meters and width of 4.3 meters, with depths up to 1.0 meter and a total capacity of 34 cubic meters (~9,000 gallons). Each straight ‘test’ section is 7 meters long and 1.5 meters wide. Two propulsion systems will be used to move water within the flume, depending on experimental needs. A novel paddlewheel system specifically developed by SAFL to be safe for sturgeon free embryos will move the water up to 0.3 meters per second (Fig. 2). A pump system with jet arrays will be used to move water up to 1.0 meter per second for other studies with later life stages having greater swimming capacity and with other organisms (Fig. 3). Internal heat exchangers are fabricated into the turning vanes in each end of the flume in order to precisely maintain water temperatures during experiments (Fig. 3). Viewing windows in each test sections will allow for organism behavior to be observed and characterized (Fig. 4). The Eco-flume is also equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation, such as digital imaging systems, acoustic Doppler velocimeters, and particle imaging velocimetry, to study the response of pallid sturgeon, shovelnose sturgeon, native freshwater mussels, and other species under controlled fluvial conditions.
Ongoing and Upcoming Projects: The inaugural experiments with newly hatched pallid sturgeon will begin in early May 2023. These experiments will characterize and quantify drift and dispersal mechanisms of early-life stage fish from 1 day post hatch, up to the onset of exogenous feeding and self-swimming. In the fall of 2023, experiments are planned to investigate the biophysical interactions among the burrowing ability of freshwater mussels, flow, and substrate.
Return to River Studies
The CERC Eco-flume is a continuous-loop, racetrack style flume. It is housed in a 1,350 square-foot laboratory at CERC and will be used to study transport phenomena and biophysical processes in river environments.
The Eco-flume was designed and installed by engineers at the University of Minnesota, Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL).
Flume Specs: The eco-flume (Fig. 1) has an overall length of 11.4 meters and width of 4.3 meters, with depths up to 1.0 meter and a total capacity of 34 cubic meters (~9,000 gallons). Each straight ‘test’ section is 7 meters long and 1.5 meters wide. Two propulsion systems will be used to move water within the flume, depending on experimental needs. A novel paddlewheel system specifically developed by SAFL to be safe for sturgeon free embryos will move the water up to 0.3 meters per second (Fig. 2). A pump system with jet arrays will be used to move water up to 1.0 meter per second for other studies with later life stages having greater swimming capacity and with other organisms (Fig. 3). Internal heat exchangers are fabricated into the turning vanes in each end of the flume in order to precisely maintain water temperatures during experiments (Fig. 3). Viewing windows in each test sections will allow for organism behavior to be observed and characterized (Fig. 4). The Eco-flume is also equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation, such as digital imaging systems, acoustic Doppler velocimeters, and particle imaging velocimetry, to study the response of pallid sturgeon, shovelnose sturgeon, native freshwater mussels, and other species under controlled fluvial conditions.
Ongoing and Upcoming Projects: The inaugural experiments with newly hatched pallid sturgeon will begin in early May 2023. These experiments will characterize and quantify drift and dispersal mechanisms of early-life stage fish from 1 day post hatch, up to the onset of exogenous feeding and self-swimming. In the fall of 2023, experiments are planned to investigate the biophysical interactions among the burrowing ability of freshwater mussels, flow, and substrate.
Return to River Studies