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VICKSBURG, Miss. – Slope is a driving factor in hydraulics. Water flows primarily downhill, and the slope, or incline, of that hill directly impacts the flow. In laboratory testing, having a mechanism to modify or evaluate slope is crucial in providing accurate and precise data.
Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) have constructed a tilt table to allow for the accurate and effortless change in slope on larger scale models.
“We wanted a capability where we could build whatever we needed to on top of this table and change the slope,” said Jeremy Sharp, a hydraulic engineer with the ERDC’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL). “It has the components for various size flumes that go on top, but the table itself is the centerpiece and the most important aspect.”
At roughly 20 feet wide and 139 feet long, the table is hinged at one end and uses nine sets of screw jacks that spin and push everything upwards, giving a tilt of up to 4% slope. The total working load that the system can handle is about 8,000 pounds per linear foot, and three water pumps can recirculate a flow of around 60 cubic feet per second.
“On top of those jacks is a structural steel frame covered with fiberglass decking,” said Sharp. “You can build whatever you need on top of the decking. Any project where we need to change the slope, whether it's process testing, scale testing, or actual prototype testing, that's where this table fulfills that need.”
Initially created for military applications, the design is a multi-function, multi-use capability that meets a range of needs across the entire U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) enterprise in both civil and military research.
“The concept began with military bridging applications,” said Sharp. “We needed to have control on the flow and the depth for testing various bridging aspects. And then, there was interest in potentially looking at military vehicle movements in riverine environments, either manned or unmanned vehicles that needed to cross a river or body of water.”
Currently, ERDC researchers are using the tilt table to assist in USACE dredging operations by studying the characterization of fine-grained sediment. The team’s goal is to determine the gravitational effect slope has on dredge material.
“The experiments that they're doing with the fluid mud are ideal because they have various slopes that they want to study,” said Sharp. “Until now, we really haven't had a good way, at that size, of doing that sort of testing.”
The team collected 80 55-gallon drums worth of sediment and mixed them in small batches to achieve a 15-25% water content, which is comparable to dredge material.
“We pumped that mixture into the model and then evaluated the spread of the material at various angles controlled by the tilt table,” said Nathan Madsen, a research mechanical engineer with ERDC-CHL. “The only thing we changed is the angle of the floor bottom, so we can truly see if the material is spreading due to gravitational effects.”
Having the tilt table at their disposal solved one of the team’s biggest challenges right from the start.
“Without this design, we would have had to find ways to get our model to tilt,” said De’Arius Christmas, a research physical scientist with ERDC-CHL. “That was never going to be an easy thing.”
“This facility gives us very fine control over the angle,” said Madsen. “We're able to fine tune everything. It’s great because it makes it repeatable, makes it true, makes it valid.”
In the future, Sharp hopes that the table will not only provide opportunities to explore and better understand hydraulic processes, but also offer more possibilities for site-specific projects.
“It's just a very versatile system,” said Sharp. “It has a lot of special capabilities that lends itself to a whole host of hydraulic problems.”
| Date Taken: | 05.15.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 05.14.2025 15:55 |
| Story ID: | 497985 |
| Location: | VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI, US |
| Web Views: | 12 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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