Design, assembly and use of a simple, economical water sampler for suspended sediment collection

Abstract

The behaviour of river can be perceived by analysing the sediments to a substantial extent. Computation of sediment weight per unit volume of water, sediment distribution along the quantifiable parameters of water body and mensuration of amount of useful as well as detrimental contents of sediments entails for sediment water sampling. The design and outline of an effortless and uncomplicated water sampler is presented in this paper. Although a number of manual, semi-automatic and fully automatic samplers are in attendance, there is a gap in asking price of previously available samplers and the present tool. The cost of sampler can be limited by designing for its specific purpose. The present sampler can only be used for top layers of water body ( < 5 feet). But the same sampler can be modified for collection up to 10 to 15 feet. Design stresses of materials and force acting on the sampler is used to examine the safety of components used at the critical points. Manual design calculations and experimental use of the instrument in Kerian River, Malaysia evinces the approval of the design. The trouble-free design and facile use of the device will assist in suspended water monitoring for research in an economical way.