Development and Evaluation of a Prototype Turbidity Sensor for In Situ, Long-Term Measurements.

Abstract

State and federal regulations require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to mitigate adverse environmental impacts resulting from increased turbidity levels which occur during coastal operations. Quantifying turbidity levels prior to, during, and after coastal operations is difficult due to existing turbidity measurement technology and water quality standards. Existing methods for turbidity measurement are limited to short term deployment, which does not include the impacts of seasonal variations, meteorological effects, and storm conditions. A turbidity monitoring system for collecting long term in situ measurements is currently in the conceptual design phase. A transmissometer, which is the sensing device for turbidity measurement, fabricated, and tested, and is the focus of this report. The design of the transmissometer considers the requirements for successful long-term in situ deployments. The laboratory calibrated prototype sensor provides the basis for the design and development of a long term operation USACE turbidity monitoring system. The design of the prototype transmissometer and the laboratory tests, calibration, and results are presented.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 1996
Accession Number
ADA317865

Entities

People

  • Gary L. Howell
  • Linda S. Lillycrop
  • Thomas E. White

Organizations

  • Coastal Engineering Research Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Detectors
  • Diffraction
  • Electromagnetic Radiation
  • Electromagnetic Spectra
  • Environment
  • Environmental Protection
  • Light Sources
  • Measurement
  • Oceanography
  • Optical Instruments
  • Optical Properties
  • Optics
  • Refraction
  • Refractive Index
  • Scattering
  • Visible Spectra
  • Water Quality

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Aerosol Science/Aerosol Physics
  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Facility/Structural Engineering.