Equipment: MRI: Track 2 Acquisition of a Hydraulic and Sediment Recirculation Flume to Advance Fundamental Research in Urban Stormwater and Fluvial Processes

As the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heavy rains and floods increase in the United States and worldwide, there is an urgent and critical need for new experimental and computational tools to advance the fundamental science and engineering knowledge needed to characterize, understand, and mitigate the adverse impact of heavy rains and floods on water quality and availability. This NSF MRI Track 2 award will enable Villanova University (VU) to acquire a Unidirectional Sediment-feed Tilting Flume (USTF).

This new instrument will enable VU and its academic, municipal, and industrial partners to carry out critically needed research on urban green stormwater infrastructure, fluvial processes, urban flood mitigation, and impacts on built urban environments. The USTF will facilitate collaborative research and education with the partner institutions in two major themes: 1) green urban stormwater infrastructure, and 2) river processes and impacts on urban environments.

The acquisition of the USTF will also support education and training at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels in water resources engineering, geo-environmental engineering, geochemistry, and geomorphology, as well as facilitate research collaborations and increase engagement with academic, municipal, and industry partners.

Managing urban stormwater has emerged as a critical challenge for many cities in the United States as the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as heavy rains and floods increase. Stormwater worsens environmental impacts related to flooding, sediment, nutrient, and pollutant transport that adversely impact the urban environment and public health.

Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) provides promising and cost-effective solutions for managing stormwater in cities and urban areas. GSI consists of integrated soil, water, and plant systems that intercept stormwater, infiltrate a portion of it into the ground, and release a portion of it slowly back into sewer systems. This NSF MRI Track 2 award will enable Villanova University to acquire a Unidirectional Sediment-Feed Tilting Flume (USTF) system with custom inserts to simulate GSI.

The USTF will be used to study urban stormwater infrastructure, fluvial processes, urban flood mitigation, and impacts on built urban environments that are otherwise unattainable through field studies or computational models alone. The collaborative nature of this project will enable students from Villanova, Temple University, Ohio State University, University of Maryland, Drexel University, The College of New Jersey, Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg, and Denison University to work together on projects, furthering their educational and research experiences.

The project will also involve collaborations/partnerships with a public utility (Philadelphia Water Department) and engineering firms including Aterra Solutions, Herbert, Rowland & Grubic, NTM Engineering, Princeton Hydro, Schnabel Engineering, and WSP Global. This award was jointly funded by the NSF MRI and the CBET Environmental Engineering programs.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.