Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering
  

  

Research Home                                                                           NSF-P2P | EPSCoR | IPTM | HYDROL-INF

                                              

Introduction


The P2P experimental study focuses on examining threshold overland flow under the influence of surface microtopography. Specific research topics include overland flow generation, puddle filling-merging-spilling dynamics, connectivity of ponding areas, discontinuous runoff processes, and spatio-temporal variability in infiltration and unsaturated flow. An overland flow laboratory (OFL) has been set up and a series of lab-scale overland flow experiments have been conducted for different microtopographic conditions, rainfall patterns (steady, unsteady, and multiple rain events), soil types and layers, and initial soil moisture conditions. An instantaneous-profile laser scanner is used to acquire high-resolution DEM data and a four-head Norton style rainfall simulator is utilized to generate rainfall. Particularly, a new method has been developed for replicating complex microtopographic surfaces for the laboratory experiments. In addition, larger-scale overland flow experiments also have been conducted for different field plots at the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station (NDAES) in Fargo and in Buxton, ND.

  

            

  

Pictures

Pictures of Laboratory Experiment Pictures of Field Experiment

  
Funded by National Science Foundation