The combined measurement of velocity and acoustic turbidity profiles allows the study of sediment transport in the field. River flow management (navigation, energy production, biodiversity…) needs a good understanding of sediment transport processes.

Ubertone's profilers allow the user to accurately observe the velocity profile near the stream bed. This instantaneous profile gives access to the shear stress as well as the turbulent intensity contributing to sediment transport. Moreover, the combined measurement of the acoustic turbidity profile allows to follow, in real-time, the evolution of the suspended sediment concentration (SSC).

Velocity and acoustic turbidity field measurement with UB-Flow profiler allows a better understanding of sewer networks. Robust and autonomous, the UB-Flow profiler allows extensive measurements in sewage. When installed on the floor of the pipe, it measures the flow velocity at different levels without mechanical moving parts and with no risk of catching the transported waste.

During heavy rains, part of the wastewater can be discharged into the environment (sea, river) without any treatment. At the same time, various studies (e.g. Mallin and al. 2006) show that urban effluents contribute significantly to the deterioration of the quality of aquatic environments that have a direct impact on biodiversity and water activities.

The knowledge of the behavior of sewer networks and facilities allows a better sizing of those and therefore contributes to a reduction on their overall impact on the environment. In a similar way, the active management of the network (real-time control to avoid discharges), based on a reliable and accurate metrology, can significantly reduce pollution. In any cases, a better understanding of the hydraulic behavior allows a suitable management of these networks.

Monitoring processes is important to ensure a good product quality. The modern industry, especially the 4.0 industry, aims to integrate more and more automated measurement on the production line.

Controlling the quality of a product in a process is not convenient to perform with the so called "off-line" techniques, as a sample needs to be collected and analysed. Measuring directly on the production line presents many advantages:

• the process flow is not disturbed or interrupted
• changes in product quality can be detected quickly, thus limiting product loss
• no sample collection is required
• the product is analysed under the process condition without a preparation delay.

Ubertone’s technology offers the ability to monitor different physical parameters which provide information on the structural change induced by a wide variety of processes. These physical parameters are the fluid viscosity, the speed of sound in the fluid and the shape of the velocity profile.

We list here papers (from conferences and journals) presenting application examples of our measurement instruments.

Journals

• Fine Sediment in Mixed Sand‐Silt Environments Impacts Bedform Geometry by Altering Sediment Mobility (2024) S. I. de Lange, I. Niesten, S. H. J. van de Veen, J. H. Baas, J. Lammers, K. Waldschläger, D. Boelee, and A. J. F. Hoitink, Water Resources Research, DOI: 10.1029/2024WR037065

  Turbulence, Bedform, UB-Lab 2C, ADVP

• Real time instability of flow close to a scour affected abutment (2022) Christophe Chevalier, Frédérique Larrarte

  Scour, River, UB-Flow, UVP

• Rheology of cocoa butter (2021) Kim Mishra, Lucas Kohler, Nico Kummer, Simon Zimmermann, Silas Ehrengruber, Fabian Kämpf, Damien Dufour, Gustav Nyström, Peter Fischer & Erich Windhab

  Pipe flow, Rheology, Viscosity, UVP, UB-Lab X2

• Investigation of the dispersing characteristics of antral contraction wave flow in a simplified model of the distal stomach (2021) Damien Dufour, F.X. Tanner, Kathleen Feigl & Erich Windhab, Physics of Fluids

  UB-Lab X2, UVP, viscous drop, jet

• Bedload transport and bedforms migration under sand supply limitation (2020) Mélanie Vah, Armelle Jarno, Sophie Le Bot, Yann Ferret, François Marin, Environmental Fluid Mechanics

  Bedload, sediment transport, lab flume, UB-Lab X2, UVP

• Hydraulics and bridges: A French case study of monitoring of a bridge affected by scour (2020) Frédérique Larrarte, Christophe Chevalier, Louis Battista, Hugues Chollet, Flow Measurement and Instrumentation

  Scour, River, UB-Flow, UVP

• Bedload Velocity and Backscattering Strength from Mobile Sediment Bed: A Laboratory Investigation Comparing Bistatic Versus Monostatic Acoustic Configuration (2020) Slaven Conevski, Rui Aleixo, Massimo Guerrero and Nils Ruther, water

  Bedload, sediment transport, lab flume, UB-Lab X8, UB-Lab 2C, UVP, ADVP

• Yield Stress Dependent Foaming of Edible Crystal-Melt Suspensions (2019) Kim Mishra, Damien Dufour and Erich J. Windhab, Crystal Growth and Design

  UB-Lab X2, UVP

• Comprehensive pulsed electric field (PEF) system analysis for microalgae processing (2018) Leandro Buchmann, Robin Bloch & Alexander Mathys, Bioresource Technology 265, DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.06.010

  UVP, Micro-algae

• Acoustic turbidity as online monitoring tool for rivers and sewer networks (2014), Anne Pallarès, Stéphane Fischer, X. France, Marie-Noëlle Pons & Philippe Schmitt, ISUD 9, DOI: 10.13140/2.1.2546.1126

  ABS, SSC, UB-Flow, rivers, sewer network

• Formation of localized sand patterns downstream from a vertical cylinder under steady flows: Experimental and theoretical study (2016) Anthony Auzerais, Armelle Jarno, Alexander Ezersky, and François Marin, Physical Review

International conferences

• M. Guerrero: Velocimetria doppler per la determinazione della portata liquida in grandi condotte. XXXIX Convegno Nazionale di Idraulica e Costruzioni Idrauliche (2024)

  UVP, UB-Lab P, pipe flow

• S. Ueno and T. Ihara: Investigation of the influence of the background ocean current on flow measurements using the UVP method, ISUD2023, Kobe, Japan

  UVP, Deep sea, Peacock UVP

• I. Abroug, P. Weill, N. Abcha: Morphology and dynamics of subaqueous dunes generated under unidirectional flow, MARID AND RIVER DUNES VII (2023)

  ADVP, UB-Lab 2C, dunes, lab flume

• N. FRITSCH, G. Fromant, F. Floc'h, S. Fischer, Y. COBAC, C. Poitou, C. Prunier, S. Bertin, E. AUGEREAU, M. Jaud & J. TANRIN: SEDIMENT DYNAMICS UNDER REAL WAVES, Coastal Sediments 2023, DOI: 10.1142/9789811275135_0178

  ADVP, ACVP, UB-Lab 3C field prototype, sea water, beach

• S. Fischer, G. Pierrefeu, M. Burckbuchler, T. FRETAUD: A new hyperband acoustic profiler - Suspended particulate matter monitoring in the river in France, example on the Rhône and Isère river, IAHR Europe (2022)

  ABS, SSC, Sediment transport, UB-SediFlow, river

• M. Burckbuchler & S. Fischer: Towards handheld UVP, ISUD (2021), DOI: 10.3929/ethz-b-000494559

  UVP, UB-Lab P, laboratory flume, physical model

• H. Guta, S. Fischer, D. Dufour, M. Burckbuchler & G. Fromant: TURBULENCE AND SEDIMENT TRANSPORT MEASUREMENTS WITH A NEW TWO COMPONENTS ULTRASONIC PROFILER, HydroSenSoft (2019)

  ADVP, ABS, SSC, Sediment transport, UB-Lab 2C, laboratory flume

• H. Guta, S. Fischer, D. Dufour, M. Burckbuchler & G. Fromant: Turbulence Measurements With A New Two Components Ultrasonic Profiler, Flomeko (2019)

  ADVP, ABS, SSC, Sediment transport, UB-Lab 2C, laboratory flume

• P. Schmitt, A. Pallarès, M. Burckbuchler & S. Fischer: Optical Versus Acoustic Turbidity in Heavy Loaded Flows, ISUD 11 (2018)

  ABS, SSC, UB-Flow, UB-Lab, laboratory tank, sewer network

• Burckbuchler M & Fischer S: A miniature uvp hardware applied to environmental monitoring, HydroSenSoft (2017)

  UVP, Peacock UVP, laboratory flume, small river

• T. Kletti, S. Fischer, M. Burckbuchler, A. Pallarès & P. Schmitt: SSC Characterization with acoustic turbidity using linear regression tools, ICUD (2017)

  ABS, SSC, UB-Flow, UB-Lab, laboratory tank, sewer network

• A. Pallarès, M. Burckbuchler, S. Fischer & P. Schmitt: Suspended Sediment Monitoring: Comparison between Optical and Acoustic Turbidity, ICUD (2017)

  ABS, SSC, UB-Flow, UB-Lab, laboratory tank, sewer network