Browsing by Author "Marr, Jeff"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Bridge Scour Monitoring Technologies: Development of Evaluation and Selection Protocols for Application on River Bridges in Minnesota
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2010-03) Lueker, Matthew; Marr, Jeff; Ellis, Chris; Winsted, Vincent; Akula, Shankar Reddy
    Bridge failure or loss of structural integrity can result from scour of riverbed sediment near bridge abutments or piers during high-flow events in rivers. In the past 20 years, several methods of monitoring bridge scour have been developed spanning a range of measurement approaches, complexities, costs, robustness, and measurement resolutions. This project brings together the expertise of Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) bridge engineers and researchers, university hydraulic and electrical engineers, field staff, and inspectors to take the first steps toward development of robust scour monitoring for Minnesota river bridges. The team worked with Mn/DOT engineers to identify variables of scour critical bridges that affect the application of scour monitoring technology. The research team will used this information to develop a Scour Monitoring Decision Framework (SMDF) that will aid Mn/DOT in selecting the best technologies for specific sites. The final component of the project will involve testing the SMDF on five bridges in a case-study type demonstration; work plans for two of the sites were developed for demonstration of deployed instrumentation.
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    Performance assessment of H Flumes under extreme approach flow conditions
    (St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, 2010-03) Marr, Jeff; Johnson, Sara; Busch, Dennis
    H Flumes were designed by the Soil Conservation Service group of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and came into widespread use in the 1930s to measure runoff in small agricultural watersheds and experimental plots. Rating tables for the head-discharge relationships were prepared based on the calibration of these devices, and calibration equations were subsequently developed. The H Flume is specified to have an opening with sloping sides in the lateral and upstream direction. Laterally the opening has a 6 to 1 slope, and in the flow direction the opening has a 2 to 1 slope.
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    Performance assessment of H Flumes under extreme approach flow conditions
    (St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, 2010-03) Marr, Jeff; Johnson, Sara; Busch, Dennis
    H Flumes were designed by the Soil Conservation Service group of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and came into widespread use in the 1930s to measure runoff in small agricultural watersheds and experimental plots. Rating tables for the head-discharge relationships were prepared based on the calibration of these devices, and calibration equations were subsequently developed. The H Flume is specified to have an opening with sloping sides in the lateral and upstream direction. Laterally the opening has a 6 to 1 slope, and in the flow direction the opening has a 2 to 1 slope.
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    Performance Assessment of Oversized Culverts to Accommodate Fish Passage
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation Research Services Section, 2011-08) Hansen, Brad; Johnson, Sara; Nieber, John L.; Marr, Jeff
    In Minnesota there is not a standard culvert design used at road crossings to improve aquatic organism or fish passage. The design process for fish passage in Minnesota is currently based on the knowledge and experience of local county, state and DNR personnel. The design methodology attempts to maintain the natural stream dimensions, pattern and profile through the culvert crossing. If designed properly aquatic organisms and fish that can make it upstream to the culvert should be able to pass through the culvert. This research was conducted to better understand the hydraulic conditions related to the practice of recessing culverts and other fish passage design elements over a range of landscapes in Minnesota. The design elements analyzed included bankfull width, slope, channel materials, side barrels and recessed culverts. Nineteen culvert sites were survey around the state. The main criterion used to evaluate performance of the culverts was the presence or absence of adequate sediment in the recessed culvert barrel. Six of the fourteen sites with recessed barrels had no sediment accumulation. A likely reason that these culverts lack sediment was increased velocities due to improper sizing relative to bankfull channel width and the accumulation of sediment in the side barrels. Wider Rosgen ā€œCā€ type channels also correlated with performance issues related to culvert design.
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    A Research Plan and Report on Factors Affecting Culvert Pipe Service Life in Minnesota
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 2012-09) Taylor, Craig A.; Marr, Jeff
    Culvert pipe material selection has traditionally been a relatively simple task involving metal or concrete pipe. In recent years, the addition of coated metal and plastic pipe has led the federal government to implement a rule requiring the consideration of alternative pipe materials. The current MnDOT Drainage Manual provides limited guidance on the selection of pipe material. The manual is lacking detailed information on the influence of environmental conditions on pipe durability in Minnesota. It is necessary to provide updated, accurate information on pipe material and durability for factors directly related to Minnesota. To reach this goal, the availability and suitability of existing data, as well as the practices associated with predicting pipe life spans must be evaluated. This report is the result of the initial feasibility study for a larger project(s) to update the MnDOT Drainage Manual. The goal for this report is to identify knowledge gaps, produce a research plan that will guide future research, and draw any pipe materials conclusions possible using the data available.
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    Scour Monitoring Technology Implementation
    (Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, 2014-09) Lueker, Matthew; Marr, Jeff
    Bridge scour is the removal of sediment around bridge foundations and can result in the failure of the bridge. Scour monitoring is performed to identify unacceptable scour on bridges considered to be scour critical and determine when scour reaches elevations that could cause potential bridge failure. Two types of monitoring are available: portable monitoring and fixed monitoring. Prior to this project, MnDOT was only using portable monitoring devices, which requires the deployment of personnel to make physical measurements of scour depths. For some scour critical bridges, especially during high-water events, fixed instrumentation capable of continuous scour monitoring was preferred, but MnDOT lacked the experience or expertise to install this type of equipment. This project installed fixed monitoring equipment at two bridge sites and monitored them for three years to determine the effectiveness and reliability of fixed scour monitoring deployments. Several device options were installed to allow MnDOT to analyze the installation and performance of different types of sensors. Both systems operated for the three years with some outages due to various causes but overall performance was acceptable. The outages were mostly related to power issues and communication issues. Valuable lessons were learned through the deployment, which may be applied to future installations. The deployment executed in this project has provided the confidence to deploy other fixed scour monitoring equipment at key bridges around the state of Minnesota. In addition, the data collected during deployment of the scour monitoring equipment has been stored and provides insight into scour processes. This data can be used by other research groups for design or research purposes.
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    Stream Restoration Toolbox [2007]
    (2024-05-23) Marr, Jeff; Cantelli, Alessandro; McElroy, Brandon; Parker, Gary; Lauer, Wesley; ctn@umn.edu; Nguyen, Charles; National Center for Earth-Surface Dynamics (NCED)
    The Stream Restoration Toolbox consists of current basic research cast into the form of tools that can be used by practitioners. The toolbox contains models, code, websites, and small applications that are useful for applied stream restoration Tools are free to download and use. The Toolbox is not limited to NCED but is open to all contributors. Tools are listed in alphabetical order. Tool title: Bank Stabilization Diagnosis Tool purpose: Determination as to whether or not bank stabilization should be a part of a river restoration scheme Primary tool author: J. Wesley Lauer File(s): BankStabilizationDiagnosisTool(ppt) Tool title: The Dam Remover: Mark I Tool purpose: Models the morphodynamics of the channel that incises reservoir sediments following dam removal. Primary tool author: Alessandro Cantelli File(s): DamRemoverMARK1(ppt) DamRemoverMARK1_front_view(mpg) DamRemoverMARK1_plan_view(mpg) Tool title: The Gravel River Bankfull Channel Estimator Tool purpose: This tool consists of a set of regression relations for predicting bankfull geometry of mobile-bed single-thread gravel bed streams in terms of bankfull discharge and bed surface median grain size. Primary tool author: Gary Parker File(s): BankfullChannelEstimator_v2(ppt) & GravelBankfullData(xls) Tool title: The Gravel River Bankfull Discharge Estimator Tool purpose: This tool consists of an equation to estimate bankfull discharge in an undisturbed (reference) reach of a single-thread, mobile-bed gravel-bed stream from measured channel characteristics. Primary tool author: Gary Parker File(s): BankfullDischargeEstimator_v2(ppt) & GravelBankfullData(xls) Tool title: Planform Statistics Tool purpose: Tools to assist in calculating planform statistics (width, curvature, channel migration rate). Primary tool author: J. Wesley Lauer File(s): PlanformStatisticsTools(ppt) Planform_statistics_tools_v91(mxd) Note - download to same directory Planform_statistics_tools_v91_2 Tool title: Sand Bed Calculator Tool purpose: Calculator to estimate bed geometry and bedload transport from sand bed surveys. Primary tool author: Brandon McElroy File(s): SandBedCalc(ppt) SandBedCalc(xls) Ebook: 1D Sediment Transport Morphodynamics with applications to: Rivers and Turbidity Currents Tool Purpose: This ebook is an amazing resource containing fundamental and applied lectures on rivers and turbidity currents as well as many other geomorphic processes. The main lectures are in PowerPoint. These lectures are linked to Excel files, most of which serve as graphical user interfaces for code in Visual Basic for Applications. Extended explanation is given in Word. Phenomena are illustrated with mpeg video clips. Author: Dr. Gary Parker, University of Illinois, Urbana Status: In development. Tool title: Spawning Habitat Integrated Rehabilitation Approach (SHIRA) Tool purpose: This website provides a comprehensive introduction to the issues and concepts surrounding spawning habitat rehabilitation on regulated rivers. The website includes description of the SHIRA framework, case studies, and reference list. Primary tool author: Professer Greg Pasternack, University of California-Davis Tool title: The Spawning Gravel Refresher Tool purpose: Allows design of controlled flood releases from dams combined with gravel feeding to restore over-coarsened and immobile former gravel spawning grounds. Primary tool author: Gary Parker Status: In development. Tool title: The Threshold Channel Calculator Tool purpose: Design of a threshold channel in an e.g., urban setting, for which the sediment supply has been cut off. Primary tool author: Peter Wilcock Status: In development.
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    StreamLab06: Overview of Experiments, Instrumentation, and Data collection
    (St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, 2010-11) Marr, Jeff; Wilcock, Peter; Hondzo, Miki; Foufoula-Georgiou, Efi; Johnson, Sarah; Hill, Craig; Leonardson, Rebecca; Nelson, Peter; Venditti, Jeremy; O'Connor, Ben; Ellis, Christopher R.; Mullin, James; Jefferson, Anne; Clark, Jeff
    This report summarizes the StreamLab06 experimental research program conducted in the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory (SAFL) Main Channel facility from April through October 2006. The experiments were funded through the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics and involved a host of researchers, graduate students, visitors, and undergraduate students. The experiments were organized into seven phases of work. The first two phases of the project involved testing of conventional and surrogate bedload monitoring technologies (Marr et. al. 2007). The last five phases involved interdisciplinary research of sediment transport and ecohydraulics. This report focuses on the later phases of the project and does not include the bedload monitoring technologies. This report contains information on the organization of the experiments, the methodologies and protocols used to collect data, the types of data collected, data structure and format, and information on data storage and access.