主要研究 今天

Strong bridges are marvels of engineering, 但它们也隐喻了建立在相互尊重和共同冒险意识基础上的牢固伙伴关系. 主要研究的研究人员目前正享受着与州和市政合作伙伴进行的两项成功项目的成果:一项涉及多佛流域的恢复, 另一个, 好吧, an actual bridge — Memorial Bridge, connecting Portsmouth, N.H. and Kittery, Maine.

一座活生生的桥

When Memorial Bridge, the first gussetless bridge in the country to support traffic, underwent an $80 million renovation in 2012, an innovative project made sure it was able to do more than carry cars. Outfitted with monitoring equipment and dozens of sensors, 这座桥让永利app新版本官网地址的研究人员和新罕布什尔州交通运输部(NHDOT)迎来了第一个生日,200 feet of hulking steel into a “生活的桥梁,” as the project has been named.

“With bridge construction, you typically don’t learn anything unless something goes wrong,艾琳·贝尔说。, 主要研究 associate professor of civil and environmental engineering. “我们想扭转这个过程，从一开始就能学到我们所能学到的一切.“贝尔, along with ocean engineering professor emeritus Ken Baldwin and Martin Wosnik, associate professor of mechanical engineering, worked with Ann 朔尔茨 ’11G, research engineer with the NHDOT, to learn all the things that a bridge might teach — in New Hampshire, Maine and across the nation.

的 National Science Foundation该项目使用从桥梁传感器收集的数据进行了数千次试验, 有效地, “testing our model to the point of failure so the inspectors can say, ‘OK, let’s keep our eye on this or that section,’”贝尔说。.

In addition to evaluating the health of the bridge, investigators are keeping an eye on the river beneath, thanks to sensors placed in the Piscataqua’s chilly waters to measure current, 浊度, 导电率, 温度, salinity and other estuarine health indicators.

So, with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Wosnik的团队, which includes 主要研究 undergraduate and graduate students, built a turbine deployment system from which they can lower a 10.5英尺直径的涡轮机从一个50 × 20英尺的平台连接到靠近朴茨茅斯一侧的桥上进入皮斯卡塔瓜河.沃斯尼克说，纪念桥展示了未来可持续发展的桥梁的样子. “We could have powered the project in a number of ways,他说. But his team wanted to demonstrate that an estuarine bridge, built where the river is narrow and tidal currents are fast, “可以利用潮汐能作为当地可用的可再生和可持续能源”来为桥梁的仪器提供动力.

朔尔茨, 是哪个部门帮助项目获得了建设平台和结构传感器的资金, says the project is a “first” for New Hampshire and the nation. “生活之桥有力地展示了我们的国家研究计划，以及我们如何寻找改善我们在这里的做法的方法,肖尔茨说.

A WATERSHED MOMENT AT BERRY BROOK

Meanwhile, upstream from the 生活的桥梁 project, 主要研究 Stormwater Center program manager Jamie Houle ’95, 15G和来自海滨小城多佛(Dover)的比尔·布朗格(Bill Boulanger)一直在评估另一个“第一”:他们为期10年的贝里溪(Berry Brook)流域修复项目.

科契科河的一条一英里长的支流，最终流入大海湾河口, most of Berry Brook’s 185-acre watershed lies in populated Dover neighborhoods, which render more than

30 percent of the watershed “impervious to water.“历史上, this meant that when it rained, water bounced off roofs, 道路, sidewalks and other hard surfaces, picked up pollutants — excess lawn fertilizer, 动物粪便, smog-related pollution, oil from automobiles, road salt — and delivered the whole mess directly into the brook. 几十年的这种处理已经使这条小溪正式“损害了水生栖息地和主要接触娱乐场所”.”

In other words, polluted.

“We can devise solutions in our labs, 但是在一天结束的时候, your city partner has to implement and maintain them. You learn to marry the ideal with the workable.”

That was the scenario facing Boulanger, Dover’s deputy director of community services, when he contacted Houle in 2008. 当时, Houle和他的同事们渴望将他们对雨水管理的研究从大学扩展到该地区的野外. Berry Brook gave them their chance.

Through a series of grants from the N.H. Department of Environmental Services and matching funding from the city of Dover, this project implemented some best practices from 主要研究 research, customized to the operation and maintenance expertise of Dover’s public workers.

“通常未经处理就流入河流的雨水被转移到水池和雨水花园，这些水池和雨水花园净化了水，并将其渗透回地下,Houle说。. 同时, 多于1,原本在地下流动的1000英尺的河流被带到了地面. 结果? 不透水的覆盖面积减少到令人印象深刻且可持续的10%.

今天, Berry Brook is recovering, 达到减少悬浮沉积物污染物负荷的联邦监管目标.

Houle和Boulanger强调，他们在Berry Brook项目上的成功标志着一种管理水资源的新方法的开始, one that can be applied locally to watersheds around the world.

新罕布什尔州南部地区预计在未来30年将增长26%. 是的, this shows we have a vibrant community, 但这也表明，我们需要学习如何减轻供水系统的压力,Houle说。.

布朗热为自己在城市历史上第一次帮助将绿色基础设施纳入规划过程而感到自豪. “与杰米和主要研究的人一起工作，让我专注于从源头上解决问题，而不是依赖于大规模的基础设施和处理厂,他说. “的 more we keep out of the river, the less impairment our river will have and less costly fixes we have to do.”

除了每人获得环保局颁发的优异奖之外, Houle和Boulanger从大学/市政合作中学到了宝贵的一课:“与Bill一起工作教会了我，你必须倾听你的合作伙伴,Houle说。. “We can devise solutions in our labs, 但是在一天结束的时候, your city partner has to implement and maintain them. You learn to marry the ideal with the workable.”