Continuous non-invasive assessment of the physical condition of water distribution systems. Water distribution systems represent the single most important part of a society's infrastructure yet there are no comprehensive methods for detecting or assessing their physical condition. A suite of techniques (including those adapted from radar and sonar) for pro-active condition assessment will be developed in this research. The objective is to add significant intelligent and sophisticated numerical m ....Continuous non-invasive assessment of the physical condition of water distribution systems. Water distribution systems represent the single most important part of a society's infrastructure yet there are no comprehensive methods for detecting or assessing their physical condition. A suite of techniques (including those adapted from radar and sonar) for pro-active condition assessment will be developed in this research. The objective is to add significant intelligent and sophisticated numerical modelling capability to enable the non-invasive analysis of the transient pressure data, and to enable real-world application. This research will enable the continuous assessment of the physical condition of the entire water distribution system from an operations room resulting in significant savings.Read moreRead less
Sustainable Technology for Removal of Trace Contaminants in Rural Water Supplies. Provision of safe drinking water treatment using sustainable technology which can be applied in rural locations and emergency situations is the main aim of this project. A hybrid membrane process will be combined with solar energy for the removal of pathogens and trace pollutants such as uranium, fluoride, arsenic, boron and nitrates. The technology will be designed for remote community situations and hence be robu ....Sustainable Technology for Removal of Trace Contaminants in Rural Water Supplies. Provision of safe drinking water treatment using sustainable technology which can be applied in rural locations and emergency situations is the main aim of this project. A hybrid membrane process will be combined with solar energy for the removal of pathogens and trace pollutants such as uranium, fluoride, arsenic, boron and nitrates. The technology will be designed for remote community situations and hence be robust and low in maintenance. Using solar energy is a challenge for trace contaminant removal as the operating conditions vary with the power fluctuations, which presents a substantially different situation to grid power connection.Read moreRead less
SCANEM : A Scanning and Inspection Method for Urban Pipeline Systems. Water and sewage utilities are crucial factors limiting economic growth and urban amenity. However many of these facilities are subject to corrosion, fracture and collapse and new strategies are now required to provide a sound basis for systematic remediation and replacement. Suitable strategies involving a structural audit and statistical analysis have been proposed by CSIRO and Tyco Water. However new geophysical inspection ....SCANEM : A Scanning and Inspection Method for Urban Pipeline Systems. Water and sewage utilities are crucial factors limiting economic growth and urban amenity. However many of these facilities are subject to corrosion, fracture and collapse and new strategies are now required to provide a sound basis for systematic remediation and replacement. Suitable strategies involving a structural audit and statistical analysis have been proposed by CSIRO and Tyco Water. However new geophysical inspection methods are now required to provide the key physical parameters relating to pipeline condition. Hopefully the EM inspection tool resulting from this project will provide the industrial partners with a unique capacity to satisfy a major global market.Read moreRead less
Turbulence and energy dissipation in stepped spillways and urban drainage systems. The economical sustainability of Australia's water resources relies upon an efficient use of its structures. Present water resources are diminishing because of poor engineering design. This issue is critical in both rural and urban Australia. The economical expansions of existing water supplies can be achieved by refurbishing reservoirs, water supply networks and urban water systems. The expertise derived from the ....Turbulence and energy dissipation in stepped spillways and urban drainage systems. The economical sustainability of Australia's water resources relies upon an efficient use of its structures. Present water resources are diminishing because of poor engineering design. This issue is critical in both rural and urban Australia. The economical expansions of existing water supplies can be achieved by refurbishing reservoirs, water supply networks and urban water systems. The expertise derived from the project will spearhead applications in a range of industries dealing with civil and environmental systems.Read moreRead less
Optimal Source Control in Urban Water Cycle Management. Major opportunities exist to improve the management of the urban water cycle by better use of source control technology such as the use of rainwater tanks and water-sensitive design. This program will optimise the use of this technology at three scales, allotment, subdivision and regional, using genetic algorithms, parallel computing and shadow pricing. The aim is to minimise community lifecycle costs subject to sustainable use of ecosystem ....Optimal Source Control in Urban Water Cycle Management. Major opportunities exist to improve the management of the urban water cycle by better use of source control technology such as the use of rainwater tanks and water-sensitive design. This program will optimise the use of this technology at three scales, allotment, subdivision and regional, using genetic algorithms, parallel computing and shadow pricing. The aim is to minimise community lifecycle costs subject to sustainable use of ecosystems and maintenance of public health standards. The benefits include national savings of the order of $2 billion and significantly reduced demand on water supply and stormwater infrastructure and its supporting ecosystems.Read moreRead less
A Stochastic Spatial Rainfall Model for Engineering Risk Assessment. Current Australian hydrologic design practice is moving towards use of continuous simulation to more accurately evaluate the performance of the water-related infrastructure for managing floods and droughts. A major impediment is the inability to simulate the temporal and spatial variability of rainfall. This project aims to develop a stochastic rainfall model that will simulate long records of representative six-minute duration ....A Stochastic Spatial Rainfall Model for Engineering Risk Assessment. Current Australian hydrologic design practice is moving towards use of continuous simulation to more accurately evaluate the performance of the water-related infrastructure for managing floods and droughts. A major impediment is the inability to simulate the temporal and spatial variability of rainfall. This project aims to develop a stochastic rainfall model that will simulate long records of representative six-minute duration rainfall throughout the target region. The proposal introduces a three-level hierarchical model of space-time rainfall building on experience of a point rainfall model developed in previous ARC research. Practical issues dealing with data quality and validation will also be addressed.Read moreRead less
Modelling long-term hydrological persistence using hidden state Markov models. Long-term climatic persistence has a pronounced effect on engineering risk assessment of drought and flood severity. Accurate risk assessment is essential for economic design of water resource and flood defence infrastructure. A new, physically realistic, framework for stochastic modelling of persistence is developed, in which the probability distributions of hydrological variables depend on underlying climatic states ....Modelling long-term hydrological persistence using hidden state Markov models. Long-term climatic persistence has a pronounced effect on engineering risk assessment of drought and flood severity. Accurate risk assessment is essential for economic design of water resource and flood defence infrastructure. A new, physically realistic, framework for stochastic modelling of persistence is developed, in which the probability distributions of hydrological variables depend on underlying climatic states. These states are not directly observable, and occasionally change in a random manner. The research program, involving three PhD projects, will develop: estimation techniques and software using climate indices and multi-site data; a new approach to flood risk regionalisation; and seasonal rainfall forecasting methods.Read moreRead less
A stochastic space-time model of rainfall fields in large heterogeneous regions. The extreme temporal and spatial variability of Australia's rainfall affects the quantity and quality of its water resources, the productivity of its agricultural systems, and its aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Given the impact of extreme events such as droughts and floods and given the massive investment in water-related infrastructure, evaluation of such risks is an issue of national economic, social and envi ....A stochastic space-time model of rainfall fields in large heterogeneous regions. The extreme temporal and spatial variability of Australia's rainfall affects the quantity and quality of its water resources, the productivity of its agricultural systems, and its aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Given the impact of extreme events such as droughts and floods and given the massive investment in water-related infrastructure, evaluation of such risks is an issue of national economic, social and environmental significance. Stochastic space-time rainfall models enable rainfall and climatic variability to be quantified, simulated over arbitrarily long periods, and risks assessed. This research will provide software and the development of rainfall modelling frameworks for large river basins such as the Murray-Darling.Read moreRead less
Sediment capture and deposition processes in coastal lagoons. Intermittently closed and open lagoons and lakes are an increasing problem for coastal managers around Australia: they can limit fish migration, and lead to degraded water quality and an increased risk of flooding. The Murray mouth, for example, closed in 1981 and still exists in a congested state. Closure would have disastrous consequences for the area in general and the Coorong in particular, with significant damage to Australia's e ....Sediment capture and deposition processes in coastal lagoons. Intermittently closed and open lagoons and lakes are an increasing problem for coastal managers around Australia: they can limit fish migration, and lead to degraded water quality and an increased risk of flooding. The Murray mouth, for example, closed in 1981 and still exists in a congested state. Closure would have disastrous consequences for the area in general and the Coorong in particular, with significant damage to Australia's environmental reputation. An optimised dredging operation at the mouth (currently costing $4.6 m annually), together with better management of river discharges, will have the potential to improve conditions in the area. Read moreRead less
Understanding the fluid mechanics of unsteady friction. Unsteady fluids flows are common in the fields of technology, engineering and physiology. This project brings together a multi-disciplinary team to consider the issue of unsteady friction. The research will focus on understanding the behaviour of water in pipes when subject to very fast transient events (such as those which cause the common problem of water hammer in the home). The project will produce new results that will be used by water ....Understanding the fluid mechanics of unsteady friction. Unsteady fluids flows are common in the fields of technology, engineering and physiology. This project brings together a multi-disciplinary team to consider the issue of unsteady friction. The research will focus on understanding the behaviour of water in pipes when subject to very fast transient events (such as those which cause the common problem of water hammer in the home). The project will produce new results that will be used by water engineers to design improved techniques for the rapid non-invasive identification of leaks in underground pipelines. As such our research has the potential to contribute huge savings to Australia's increasingly valuable water resources. Read moreRead less