Hydraulics Laboratory
Overview
The Hydraulics Laboratory provides a means of testing the hydraulic
performance of highway drainage structures and stream crossings. The purpose of
the laboratory is to solve hydraulic and stream stability problems attendant to
highways and to support operational engineers with design guidance and tools.
The Hydraulics Laboratory consists of a physical modeling component and a
numerical modeling component that are used in concert to extrapolate results and
then verify and calibrate these results. The physical modeling facility has a
total pumping capacity of 6000 gal/min with variable-frequency drives capable of
simulating in-flow hydrographs. This laboratory features a 6-ft-wide by
70-ft-long tilting flume capable of simulating 13% longitudinal and cross
slopes. The flume has a sediment recess for local scour modeling and has a
sediment trap connected to a sediment recirculation pump for limited, live-bed
scour studies.
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| The Woodrow Wilson Bridge model is tested for scour in
the FHWA Hydraulics Lab. |
This laboratory also includes a culvert testing facility for evaluating
entrance loss coefficients for various types of culvert inlets. The numerical
modeling capability features a three-dimensional sediment transport model
capable of reproducing scour results and can be used very effectively to extend
those results to field conditions that could never be attained in a physical
laboratory.
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