Soil Erosion and Conservation Laboratory
Cranfield University has undertaken pioneering pure and applied research into soil erosion and sedimentation for over 40 years and its ‘Soil Erosion and Conservation Laboratory’ is amongst the best in the UK. But what can it do and why?
There is no standard procedure for simulating natural rainfall events so we have a range of equipment for use in our erosion research. This includes our 8.6m rainfall tower with its 860 hypodermic needle array that enables us to generate everything from a light drizzle to a tropical storm, to pressurised nozzle systems that allow us to simulate the effects of variations in rainfall intensity. Our rainfall simulation equipment enables simulated erosion rates to be contextually placed in relation to the frequency and magnitude of a return period. In Bedfordshire, for example, the return period of a five minute duration storm with an intensity of greater than 50 mm/hr is approximately six months.
Our largest laboratory-based simulator is the 6m by 3m triaxial runoff rig, which is a unique facility within the UK. The dimensions of this rig are important as it represents a scale that can be confidently related to the field scale. The triaxial table can be used to assess the effectiveness of field scale designs such as the design and placement of buffer features in relation to the trapping efficiency of channelised flow.
Learn more about the Soil Erosion and Conservation Laboratory
