Advancing Hydrology Research

VCRWS team receives $1.4 million NSF Major Research Instrumentation grant

Faculty members from the Villanova Center for Resilient Water Systems (VCRWS) were awarded a three-year, $1.4 million Major Research Instrumentation grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the installation and upkeep of a unidirectional sediment-feed tilting flume. The device will serve a wide scope of hydrology research projects and experiments for Villanova researchers as well as national and international partners in academia, water utilities and engineering firms.

With the ability to mimic numerous real-world variables, the flume can be used to research diverse topics, such as urban hydrology, sediment deposits, soil liquefaction, fluvial processes and sediment capping technologies. It can tilt on an incline, weigh and recirculate sediment, create waves and control water flow and height, among other features.

“To be able to research on a unique piece of equipment like this is very auspicious for us,” says Virginia Smith, PhD, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, who was the principal investigator on the grant.

“Over the past 20 years, we have been able to gain great insight into how stormwater infrastructure works and how green stormwater solutions can be powerful,” Dr. Smith says. “But the real world is messy and complicated. Being able to pair the existing datasets with laboratory experiments on the flume and isolate single variables will allow us to understand the drivers and causes of why different types of infrastructure succeed or underperform under various conditions and will advance the science around stormwater engineering.”

Going Global

The Major Research Instrumentation grant was one of two NSF grants awarded to VCRWS in the fall. The other was a two-year, $250,000 planning grant to set up a global engineering research center for urban hydrology.