Partrac Ltd products

The Cohesive Strength Meter (CSM) is a portable instrument used to measure the critical entrainment stress, erosion rate and settling velocity of bedded (deposited) muddy sediments. It has found widespread application in intertidal and fluvial environments, in agricultural research programmes, and for the measurement of sediment stability in seabed cores. The CSM comes with a manual, quick start instructions, a CD digital bibliography of scientific papers, calibration and maintenance instructions, and a one year warranty.

We operate two benthic flumes for the in situ measurement of sediment stability - these are seabed lander systems designed for coastal and offshore use. The flumes are submersible marine instruments which rest unattended on the seabed and apply a controlled flow across the seabed. Sensors are used to measure seabed erosion as it occurs, typically over a 1 to 2 hour experiment time. Data on the critical entrainment stress, erosion rate and sediment settling velocity/mass deposition rate are generated. The flumes are suited to a wide variety of applications including scour rate assessment, contaminated sediment resuspension, and numerical model validation-calibration. We operate the smaller Voyager I system, which is suited to shallow water/coastal applications, and a larger Voyager II system, suitable for offshore (water depths 50 to 200 m).

We manufacture a range of tracers for clients interested in a range of applications. These are manufactured in our ISO 9001- certified facility. Tracers can be made fluorescent only, or both fluorescent and magnetic. The effective lower size limit for tracer is ~25 mm, although for specific applications requiring finer sizes we can adjust the density to mimic the hydraulic properties. Density adjustment can also be used to create heavy particles or ultra-low density particles.