Dean Clare Haru Crowston recently attended the unveiling of the LegoFlume, the latest accomplishment of the research group in Dr. Marwan Hassan’s geomorphology and hydrology laboratory. The first-of-its-kind in Canada, this artificial river channel will serve as a crucial tool for research furthering the understanding of the effects of climate change and land management on river systems. The LegoFlume is so nicknamed for its unique adjustable width, length, height and incline. A novel design for this impressively flexible tool, the LegoFlume combines several existing physical models in the lab.
“Whereas previous physical models were focused on smaller, narrower flumes, the LegoFlume will enable us to conduct research on large-scale, diverse river systems with complex channel dynamics shaped by current and future climatic shifts. The LegoFlume is equipped with the latest technology which positions us at the forefront of global research,” says Dr. Hassan
“Whereas previous physical models were focused on smaller, narrower flumes, the LegoFlume will enable us to conduct research on large-scale, diverse river systems with complex channel dynamics shaped by current and future climatic shifts. The LegoFlume is equipped with the latest technology which positions us at the forefront of global research,” says Dr. Hassan
This project took over two years of prototyping, fabrication and construction by Dr. Hassan’s team, drawing on a wide array of expertise. Now in its completed state, the flume is filled with a specially designed mixture of sand and gravel. A camera mounted above the channel captures high resolution images, and these are used to build three-dimensional models of the riverbed and monitor sediment movement and water flow over time. The team is designing experiments that mimic the real-world conditions of various freshwater ecosystems.
The impacts of hydroclimatic shifts due to climate change, like the drier, warmer summers and wetter, warmer winters, are critical to understand. These shifts have significant effects on the freshwater ecosystems themselves as well as extreme weather events like flooding and landslides. The data collected from the LegoFlume experiments will help guide river and floodplain management and offers opportunities for research across other disciplines such as Engineering, Physics, Geology, Computer Science and Ecology. The potentially wide-reaching impacts of this research reinforce UBC’s global leadership in Geomorphology and Ecological Sustainability research.
“It is fascinating to see the different river simulations in action and to learn about the fundamental physics issues you are resolving as well as the crucial real-world applications. It's gratifying to know that such important and globally recognized work is happening in the Faculty of Arts - and that we have scientists to rival the best in any Faculty or university.”
The research team plans to conduct preliminary testing over the winter to observe how the scaled down rivers replicated in the LegoFlume behave under various conditions. These results will be compared to theoretical predictions and past findings from other flumes. By introducing constraints like natural obstacles or scaled down human infrastructure, the team will analyze past river behaviour and forecast future responses to environmental change. These experiments will analyze various flood scenarios and explore both traditional engineering and nature-based strategies to mitigate flooding and erosion, contributing novel discoveries to more environmentally sensitive solutions.
The Hassan research group is eager to get these exciting new investigations underway and are grateful for the continued support of UBC’s Faculty of Arts, the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (VPRI), and project funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Dr. Hassan and the department of Geography look forward to the important insights the LegoFlume will reveal.
