Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory invention team receives patent for bed-load transport measurement technique
Receiving a patent in July 2021 for “Bedload transport methodology and method of use,” a Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL) team at the Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) discuss their invention. It estimates sediment movement rates by measuring the bathymetric elevations in specific areas of a river multiple times. From left, CHL’s research hydraulic engineer David Abraha, research physicist Tate McAlpin and research physicist Thad Pratt invented these methods to answer river engineers’ challenges.