The wet method uses water-flushing with some hand
shaking to sort sediments through a series of sieves. The
trapped sediment on each sieve is allowed to drain and is
poured into a water-filled graduated container. The amount
of water displaced determines the volume of the sediment
plus the volume of any water retained in port spaces in
the sediment.
When the wet method is used, water retained in the
sediment must be accounted for, since water retention per
unit volume of fine sediments is higher than for coarse
sediments. A conversion factor based on particle size and
specific gravity can be used to convert wet volume to dry
volume.
The most important component of the field weight system
is a battery operated electronic balance.
Plastic buckets are used to hold the bedload samples. A
brass weight is added to the bottom of each sample bucket
to facilitate obtaining a submerged tare weight when the
bucket is empty. The sample buckets are suspended from
beneath the balance using a lightweight chain and two
S-hooks. The diameter of the sample
buckets are small enough to be submerged in the larger
five gallon buckets. A five gallon bucket can be sued to
hold water for submerged weighing. The five gallon bucket
is filled with water and the chain and five-quart sample
bucket is completely submerged in the five gallon bucket.
When these adjustments are finished, the sample bucket is
removed and the balance turned on. The balance will
automatically zero, ignoring the weight of the chain and
hooks. Select the desired units on the balance and obtain
a submerged tare weight for each sample basket. The kit
includes: Model 8100G Electronic Balance, 5 gallon bucket,
brass tare weight, (6) 5 quart sample buckets, S-hooks and
chain.
506-371 Wet
Weighing Method Kit 25 lbs.
Field
& Lab Balances
