It is called the REAL flume (River, Estuary and Coastal Resilient Infrastructure Testing Flume) and it was conceived and developed by the University of Southampton School of Engineering’s Associate Professors Gustavo de Almeida and Gerald Müller (who also designed the horizontal paddle wave-maker that enables research into wave-current interactions).

This formidable structure provides a large-scale research environment that enables engineers to study how infrastructure performs under realistic river, coastal and marine conditions. It can recreate flowing water, waves and moving sediment to test structures such as bridges, flood defences, ports, and offshore wind foundations. By combining currents, wave action and river and sea bed processes in one controlled setting, the flume allows researchers to understand how infrastructure can become stressed, damaged, or unstable over time. The insights gained will help inform the design of safer, more resilient and cost-effective infrastructure, particularly in the face of growing environmental and climate pressures.

Interested in the technical specification? REAL is 22m long, 1.80m wide and 1.10m high, achieving a maximum flow rate of 1.40 m3/s with a sediment feeding and recirculation capacity of up to 9 kg/s. Fully automated to produce bespoke flow time-series, the system features integrated wave generation and tidal flow simulation. To ensure world-class data collection, the facility is equipped with: Laser Doppler Anemometry (LDA), Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), Ultrasonic Velocity Profilers (UVP), Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters (ADV), high-speed cameras and wave gauges.

Funded by a £3.2M EPSRC Strategic Equipment Grant (William Powrie, Gustavo de Almeida, Gerald Muller, in collaboration with UCL), the facility was conceived and developed by Gustavo de Almeida and Gerald Müller, and built by Armfield Ltd.  

Lucinda Lamont, Business Development Director for Southampton Science Park, said, “We congratulate the Future Towns team and their wider collaborators on bringing this hugely ambitious and highly valuable project to fruition. With some of the UK’s most outstanding rivers and one of the busiest commercial shipping channels spanning the coastline on our doorstep, the central south is ideally positioned to benefit from advances in research and innovation in this field.

“The concept of the REAL flume was integral to plans for our Engineering Centre from day one, so it’s immensely pleasing to see it completed, operational and ready to conduct breakthrough research.  Projects like this underline the value of Science Parks in that we are often able to accommodate unique requests for bespoke facilities that couldn’t be contemplated in conventional commercial spaces.”   

The Future Towns Innovation Hub was established at Southampton Science Park in 2023 as part of The Engineering Centre, a property uniquely designed and built to respond to a region-critical need for high quality, specialised environments for companies innovating in engineering disciplines.