Rotating Circular Flume

A rotating flume installed at the National Water Research Institute in Burlington, Ontario, Canada to undertake basic research on cohesive sediment dynamics is described. The flume is 5.0 m in mean diameter, 0.30 m in width, and 0.30 m in depth. An annular cover plate (ring), which can be transversed in the vertical direction, fits inside the flume with a radial clearance of 1.5 mm on either side and makes contact with the water surface. The flume and the ring can be rotated independently at speeds ranging from 0 to 3 rpm. The flume is equipped with a laser Doppler anemometer, a laser particle‐size analyzer and a Preston tube. A set of performance tests carried out in this flume indicate that generation of a nearly two‐dimensional flow field is possible if both the flume and the ring are rotated simultaneously in opposite directions. Flows generated by keeping the flume stationary and rotating only the ring were found to contain a strong secondary circulation cell and a large variation of bed shear stress across the flume.