Keywords
water quality modelling, pathogen intrusion, computational fluid mechanics
Start Date
1-7-2010 12:00 AM
Abstract
Water distribution networks are not completely physically safe and the possibility of entrance of external fluid inside the disinfected current of water exists, when some factors occur. This phenomenon is termed pathogen intrusion and can cause a pollution problem on the network. Polluted drinking water can generate waterborne disease outbreaks. Therefore pathogen intrusion is a phenomenon causing the degradation of drinking water quality. Three factors are needed: a pollution source, a way of entrance and a mechanism that produce the event. Furthermore, the presence of physical failures in the water network gives an approximation of the hydraulic performance; if the network is near to the optimal performance, this will have less possibility to generate an intrusion event, while the performance goes descending the possibility to present an intrusion grows. This work is focused on analyzing the relation of the ways of entrance (represented with failures in pipes) and the mechanism that generate the intrusion (negative pressure in the pipe). The flows of water are analyzed based on the pressure that generates the intrusion in the pipe by means of experimentation and three dimensional CFD modelling. The objective of this contribution is to identify by means of experimental models and with a numerical simulation of one of them, the potential relation among the intrusion flow and the pressure in the failure zone, to represent the event in a numerical way and to show the achievements of this model.
3D computational model of external intrusion in a pipe across defects
Water distribution networks are not completely physically safe and the possibility of entrance of external fluid inside the disinfected current of water exists, when some factors occur. This phenomenon is termed pathogen intrusion and can cause a pollution problem on the network. Polluted drinking water can generate waterborne disease outbreaks. Therefore pathogen intrusion is a phenomenon causing the degradation of drinking water quality. Three factors are needed: a pollution source, a way of entrance and a mechanism that produce the event. Furthermore, the presence of physical failures in the water network gives an approximation of the hydraulic performance; if the network is near to the optimal performance, this will have less possibility to generate an intrusion event, while the performance goes descending the possibility to present an intrusion grows. This work is focused on analyzing the relation of the ways of entrance (represented with failures in pipes) and the mechanism that generate the intrusion (negative pressure in the pipe). The flows of water are analyzed based on the pressure that generates the intrusion in the pipe by means of experimentation and three dimensional CFD modelling. The objective of this contribution is to identify by means of experimental models and with a numerical simulation of one of them, the potential relation among the intrusion flow and the pressure in the failure zone, to represent the event in a numerical way and to show the achievements of this model.
