Design and Testing of a Convenient Benchtop Sandbox for Controlled Flow Experiments

A benchtop sandbox constructed from nested storage tanks ( NeSTs ), was assembled for studying flow and transport in porous media. Molded plastic storage containers, purchased at a department store, were modified to fashion the tanks. The remaining construction materials were also inexpensive and the NeST design made it virtually leak‐proof. The uniformity of flow in the NeST was evaluated with three independent tracer tests. Estimated velocities were within about ±20% including all test results, indicating a high degree of predictability and uniformity in the flow. The NeST is a simple and robust tool suitable for research and teaching purposes, particularly for the testing of flow measurement sensors like the point velocity probes.