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The Laminar Tube Flocculator group hopes that through our research with Aquaclara this Fall semester, we will be able to gain an understanding of what final dimensions of the flocculator will allow for both spectator visibility and the steady growth of flocs. We also hope to create a "control" laminar flocculator that we will be able to compare our results experimentation to so that we will be able to determine the most suitable dimensions for the water treatment plant. This semester we will also be researching ways to build more flocculators through different material and fabrication methods as well as adjusting the flocculator's lengths so that they will not be longer than necessary. The experiments that we are conducting on the flocculator include testing different clamp sizes attached to the middle of the flocculator and testing the credibility of Karen Swetland's theory that at a certain point, there is no need to for flocs to continue growing in size since shear force will prevent smaller flocs from being captured by the larger flocsones.
So far, our team has conducted four tests to create a "base case" to compare our experiments to. The first test resulted in a graph that had data points bouncing all over and a up and down. The starting turbidity at the beginning of the experiment was 70 NTU, which is strange because at that point coagulant has not been added in yet so the turbidity of the effluent water should be higher.
My contributions thus far include the writing of the Detailed Task List, the Research Paper, the reading of Ian Tse, Professor Lion, and Professor Monroe's papers on flocculation, and adding input during problem solving.