UBC Geography Study To Aid Urban Planners

We’re always interested in how our conveyors can help in university research projects. In this case, the project seems much more interesting than the conveyor! Here we have a geography study at the University of British Columbia, with an LP Series conveyor slowly dropping particles into a water stream. But what these experiments will accomplish, the project’s leader describes best (scroll below the video):

“I use a model of a river to study under what conditions the banks of such channels will erode. I use the conveyor belt to deliver sediment to the channel in order to simulate the movement of sediment from upstream moving into the study area. Because it is an experiment I can test how changing the amount of material I add in as well as the timing of that addition (i.e. whether it is delivered all at once or spread out in time) influences how the channel behaves and what it will ultimately look like. The results of these experiments will be used to inform decisions about urban planning around rivers as well as river restoration practices.

Lucy MacKenzie, PhD Candidate, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia”
UBC Geography Projects – Lucy MacKenzie