Smarter planet Smarter water monitoring

Smarter planet Smarter water monitoring

Author : Wendy Wu, PhD student. Her host university is The University of Sheffield and her project, ‘Microwave sensing of turbulent flow processes for intelligent drainage monitoring and management’ is sponsored by Dynamic Flow Technologies Ltd (DFT), Network Rail and Environmental Monitoring Solutions Ltd (EMS).

About me, About the project.

I am a first-year PhD student based in the University of Sheffield with mechanical engineering background especially in fluid mechanics and numerical analysis. My research topic is ‘Microwave sensing of turbulent flow processes for intelligent drainage monitoring and management’. The need to accurately monitor flows within large drainage system is an emerging challenge. Driven by the effects of urbanisation, population growth and climate change that alter the hydraulic load on drainage assets.

The modelling and measurement of the hydraulic flow conditions in rivers and open channels are of great importance for the forecasting of flood risks, the study of sediment transport, and for the conservation and enhancement of riverine habitat. Traditionally, wastewater collection and drainage collection transport in urban areas is carried out using an extensive and complex system of underground pipes. The underground water mains and sewers has developed rapidly over many years. There are over 668,000km of pipes now in UK. There is a growing need to increase the quality of measurement sensors in order to reduce their uncertainty.

Why smarter?

For the traditional flow monitoring, sensors are immersed in the flow. This increases the need and costs of maintenance, limits the flexibility of the measurement system, and involves higher risks for the operators. The idea of non-contact measurement techniques enable the sensor to remote monitor the flow. It is robust, relatively cheaper and can be safely operated compared to the traditional flow monitoring techniques.

Traditional monitoring VS Remote monitoring

Experimental data has shown that the turbulence properties at a point near the free surface relate directly to the properties of the free surface pattern. This would suggest a direct linkage between the free surface and the underlying turbulence field. However, the mechanism and physical principles behind these are yet to be investigated. So far, ability to measure the pattern is limited and it has only been examined in detail for flows in rectangular channels. My project will focus on the free surface data in a partially filled circular pipe rigs under various structural and operational conditions in Sheffield.

Areas covered by this project.

My project will require extensive laboratory tests to measure the bulk flows properties, turbulence properties, free surface dynamics and microwave transducer data. The free surface acts as the information exchange mechanism between the hydraulic and acoustic systems. Therefore, my work is accordingly divided into two related parts: understanding of the hydraulic processes and acoustic responses. The objectives of this study are shown as follows:

1. Establish a facility to enable hydraulic and acoustic analysis of the flow characteristics associated with partially filled pipes.
2. Use this facility to measure the flow conditions which vary in depth, discharge, bed slope and bed type.
3. Develop acoustic instrumentation to measure the propagating sound characteristics in a pipe.
4. Develop relations between the flow properties, free surface roughness and acoustic response.

By achieving thesis objectives, the overall goal of my work is to develop a technique to determine the free surface behaviour and hence the bulk flow properties based on remote acoustic measurement of the free surface dynamics.

The Future!

The new understanding of this study will contribute to deeper study of process that interact with turbulent flow surfaces, such as greenhouse gas evasion, acoustic scattering, and pollutant mixing. The new outputs of this project will enable end users reduce cost on monitoring system with more effective and accurate asset management. For public, we can have a lower risk of harmful flood events and better network rail services.