Main Content
- Ideal for long term experiments and mesocosm studies on effects of biological and chemical processes and sediment transport or distribution studies.
- Continuous treatment area
- Flow driven by rotation of top plate. Counter rotation of bottom reduces cross-channel circulation. Flow speeds up to 70 cm sec-1 have been achieved in mid-water column
- Flow direction is reversible to mimic tidal direction changes
- Volume of the flume with 20-cm water depth is 700 liters. Maximum water depth is 40 cm
- 2 acrylic side panels facilitate access to water column to sample or monitor
- Temperature control (chilling) through titanium plate in the top on the water surface using a portable chiller
- Constructed of seawater resistant materials. Bottom is PVC, sidewalls are optical quality glass, top plate is PVC and titanium
Research Projects
The following are examples of research in the annular flumes. The research was conducted at the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University – New Brunswick prior to 2017. The flumes were moved to the Aquaculture Innovation Center in 2017.
Effects of bottom roughness and turbulent flows on growth of the commercially valuable Atlantic surfclam
Patricia Ramey, C. Fuller, G. Taghon, J.P. Grassle, C. Noji, H. Fuchs, Y. Chen (IMCS, Rutgers)
Assessing the transport characteristics of flocculent organic sediment in the Florida Everglades Laurel G. Larsen, J.W. Harvey, J.P. Crimaldi, G. Noe, D. Nowacki (University of Colorado, Boulder and U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA)
Evaluating essential shellfish habitat of hard clams, Mercenaria mercenaria, during larval settlement and early recruitment
Di Li & Judith P. Grassle (IMCS, Rutgers)
Effects of distance between individual spawning oysters on fertilization success.
David Bushek & John Quinlan, (IMCS, Rutgers)
Effects of turbulence on algal cell aggregation
Alex Kahl (IMCS, Rutgers)
Effect of predator activity on the rate of postlarval transport of clams
Heather Hunt (IMCS, Rutgers, currently University of New Brunswick, St John, Canada
Chemical and biological implications of water flow through permeable sediments
Gary Taghon & Charlotte Fuller (IMCS, Rutgers), Clare Reimers (Oregon State University)
Ontogenetic changes in feeding modes in Spionid polychaetes
Brian Hentschel (San Diego State University), Gary Taghon (IMCS, Rutgers), Jeff Shimeta (Franklin & Marshall College), now in Australia