Refrigerated Physical Modeling of Waterways in a Controlled Environment

The Research Area in the Ice Engineering Facility at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) is an 80-foot by 160-foot refrigerated room with a variety of equipment, a water reservoir and water flow capabilities, and environmental controls to conduct large, realistic physical model studies of lakes, rivers and other terrain.  Because of its size, environmental controls and supporting equipment, it also serves as an effective test and evaluation facility of larger scale equipment, vehicles, structures and models of infrastructure.  Previous activities in the Research Area include:

• Basic research in cold regions river hydraulics
• Physical modeling of river systems to optimize ice control structures
• Calibration of numerical hydraulic modeling
• Redesigns of locks and dams using scaled physical models
• Performance testing of equipment at cold temperatures
• Accumulation and shedding studies of ice and snow on structures 
• Capabilities and limitation testing of large equipment in cold regions environments (including snow)
•  Mobility investigations in snow       

Success Stories   

Lamoille River

Hardwick, Vermont, had a long history of ice jams and ice jam floods on its Lamoille River—nine from 1964 to 1993, three of them severe.  One of the techniques used to minimize ice jam-related floods in metropolitan areas is to capture the ice upstream of the town in a flood plain. A model study of the Lamoille resulted in the construction of a customized ice control structure. There have been NO ice jam floods since the granite block ice control structure, modeled and tested at the Ice Engineering Facility Research Area, was constructed in 1994.

Cazenovia Creek

Cazenovia Creek, near Buffalo, New York, has breakup ice jams form along the lower basin nearly every year during mid-winter or spring thaws. Ice jam flooding occurs in Buffalo and West Seneca about every 2 to 3 years, causing an estimated $1 million in damage for each occurrence.

CRREL developed a physical model of Cazenovia Creek to optimize the configuration of an ice control structure and to quantify design loads for the structure. Cazenovia Creek simulation results were validated by field and physical model measurements and helped find a low-cost way to control the creek's ice jams.

Features

Research Area

• 160 feet long (east–west), 80 feet wide (north–south).

Crane

• X-Y Bridge Crane: bridge crane running east–west, (X axis) with personnel platform and a 2.5-ton crane that can be independently positioned along the bridge crane (Y Axis). Drive motors for the X axis have synchronized variable frequency drives that can be programmed to control bridge speed. Currently, the crane has 8 preprogram speeds. The personnel platform has 120VAC for instrumentation operation and data acquisition systems.
• Monorail Crane: The 2.5-ton crane system in the Ice Engineering Facility overlaps into the operating area of the bridge crane to facilitate equipment movement from the shop into the cold room.

Refrigeration

• Air
  • Recirculated ammonia refrigeration system can refrigerate the room to –15°F (–°C) using four zones or 16 air units.
• Computer controlled with archiving of 15-minute data to document freezing environment.
• Continuous operation of air units with hot gas defrost when unit efficiency falls below effect level.
• Water
• Ice Builder Coil submerged in the 6700-gallon-water reservoir for the pumps maintains the water temperature at the freezing point independent of the ambient temperature in the cold room.
• Glycol Taps
• Glycol taps on the south and west wall are available for localized refrigeration or heating using panels or coils. The temperature is regulated using a controller and separate heat exchanger.                           

Recirculation Pumps

• P9, 450 gallons per minute with closed loop feedback system, including frequency drive on the pump, with Fisher Porter NIST traceable magnetic flow meter with ¹/₄% accuracy and Fisher-Porter controller. Inline heat exchanger can be used to heat the water.
• P13, 900 gallons per minute with closed loop feedback system, including frequency drive on the pump, with Fisher Porter NIST traceable magnetic flow meter with ¹/₄% accuracy and Fisher-Porter controller.
• P14, 1800 gallons per minute constant discharge pump with flow regulated using bypass valves.
• P15, 3600 gallons per minute constant discharge pump with flow regulated using bypass valves.

Water Management

• Water drawn from a reservoir in the facility basement is cooled using submerged refrigeration coils or heated using an inline shell and tube heat exchanger.
• Air bubblers are used to agitate the water in the reservoir to keep the sediment in suspension and to ensure that the water is isothermal.
• Sand filtration system is used to maintain water quality.

Miscellaneous

• Snow-making guns, including one with an articulating base.

Instrumentation

• Thermistors for temperature measurement
• Pressure sensors for monitoring water levels in the hydraulic model
• Sontek acoustic Doppler velocimeter capable of measuring both the mean flow and turbulence in three directions

Data Acquisition Systems

• Lab View high-resolution, multi-function I/O
• 16 bit 100 Khz A/D, 16 SE or 8 Diff channels
• Programmable gain 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100
• 2 ANA output channels +/– 10 Vdc, or 0–10 Vdc
• 8 I/O channels TTL compatible
• 4-slot expander chassis to increase channel density with MUX
• Signal conditioning for RTDs, thermistors, millivolt Voltage, current, strain gauges
• Data measurement: Pressure, flow, temperature, force, moment
• Other functionality: event triggering and near-real-time, automated, process documentation, including video and summary data to WEB

Using the Research Area

Our capabilities and facilities are available to assist you in addressing and solving a variety of cold regions science and engineering challenges. Please consult Facility Manager Leonard Zabilansky for facility usage and rates information, which vary depending on the type of activity and support needed. The Facility Manager can also provide additional documentation. 

Contact

Marina.Reilly-Collette@usace.army.mil, 603.646.4130

Research Mechanical Engineer

Engineering Resources Branch (CEERD-RZE)

US Army Engineer Research and Development Center | Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory