Design of a rainfall simulator for classroom demonstration and field research

Abstract

AbstractRainfall is a key abiotic factor of ecosystems that can both provide benefits and contribute to negative environmental impacts. Due to spring precipitation levels increasing in the Midwest, there has been increased interest in developing and evaluating practices that can mitigate the effects of heavy rainfall. As this is an area of interest for both agriculture and environmental sciences, demonstrating the actions of severe rainfall can be a powerful tool in the natural sciences classroom as well as in the field. Rainfall simulators are ideal for this demonstration as they can create repeated, uniform rainfall events while introducing limited variability between events. Building on previous literature, we constructed a cost‐effective, easily transportable design that can be utilized in the classroom, the lab, and the field. Here, tests were conducted to measure flow rate, rain droplet size, and uniformity of water dispersion on the cost‐effective and easily obtained solid cone‐style herbicide nozzle. We found no statistically significant differences among rainfall dispersion metrics or in raindrop uniformity analyses. This demonstrates the capability of constructing this type of teaching and research equipment at little cost while producing highly consistent and size‐relevant artificial rainfall.