Integral Consulting Inc. (Integral), as part of a subcontract with Stanford University, will collaborate on an award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for research designed to improve sediment fate and transport models.
The project, “Improved Observation and Parameterization of Bottom Boundary Layer Turbulence and Particle Properties for Sediment Fate and Transport Modeling,” extends through September 2020.
Used to help answer environmental questions, sediment fate and transport models can quantify and forecast the environmental effects of cleanup efforts, the potential for reliable natural recovery, and possible impacts of extreme events such as severe storms and hurricanes.
Novel acoustical and optical instrumentation will be deployed in the wave-driven estuarine waters of San Francisco Bay to collect a suite of field data to directly observe relationships between physical dynamics and biogeochemical properties of suspended particles.
Linking academic-level researchers directly with consultants actively involved in Superfund cleanup, the project will also support the doctoral research of two graduate students.
They will be advised by a diverse group and trained in advanced computational fluid dynamics and acoustic and optical field instrumentation, as well as practical aspects of environmental engineering.