Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics
Students operating the wave tank
Facilities are provided to support research in hydraulics and geophysical fluid dynamics.
Hydraulics
The hydraulics laboratory contains self-contained experimental facilities that form an integral part of the undergraduate teaching program. The facilities also support the work of honours and postgraduate student research projects.
Major facilities
- Tow tank -a 50m-long tank for towed model studies, instrument testing and calibration.
- Constant head tank and pumping facilities - a 10m tank and basement pumping facility for water supply to the laboratory.
- Recirculating flumes - two 10m-long flumes for open channel flow studies.
- Wave tanks - two surface wave tanks equipped with mechanical paddle wave generators and wave gauges.
- Swan River model - a reduced scale hydraulic model of the Swan River Estuary.
- Tilting tube - a 6m-long sealed tilting tube facility for internal mixing studies.
Geophysical fluid dynamics
Students examining the Swan River model
This laboratory researches a diverse range of physical processes related to transport and mixing in the environment.
Facilities enable small scale modelling of processes affected by density stratification and the Earth's rotation.
Major facilities
- Rotating turntable - a precision direct drive system combined with a dedicated four-Watt argon-ion laser system for flow imaging.
- Internal wave tank - a 6m-long tank equipped with three types of internal wave generators for investigating internal wave dynamics.
- Convection tanks - 2m-long rectangular tank equipped with dedicated external water bath systems for investigating unsteady convection. A 1m-diameter dual-walled bottom-heated circular convection tank designed for work on a rotating turntable.
- Model reservoir - a rectangular tank with a surface stress facility to model the effects of wind stress on lakes and reservoirs.
- Instrumentation - a flexible array of instruments and data collection platforms designed for use at any of the above large facilities.
