Author(s): Tong-Chuan Che, Huan-Feng Duan, Pedro. J Lee, Mohamed S. Ghidaoui
Linked Author(s): Tong-Chuan Che
Keywords: Water pipelines, transient wave, blockage irregularity, wave-blockage interaction, plane wave solution
Abstract: Extended partial blockages are commonly formed in urban water supply systems (UWSS) and can result in many problems, such as reducing water carrying capacity, increasing energy loss, and deteriorating water quality. A variety of blockage detection methods have been developed, among which the transient-based blockage detection method (TBBDM) is thought to be a promising way for diagnosing pipeline blockages for its advantages of active, economic, efficient and non-destructive operations. Despite of the successful validation and application of the TBBDM in the literature, blockages considered in these studies were mainly idealized or simplified to regular shapes, which are equivalent to pipelines in series with different diameters. However, blockages with regular shapes are not common in practical UWSS. Therefore, a better understanding of the influences of blockages with more realistic shapes (termed as irregular blockages) on transient waves is necessary and critical to the development and application of the current TBBDM. This study aims to: (i) obtain the nontrivial solutions of one-dimensional (1D) wave equation for a conduit with varying pipe cross-sectional area in different irregular blockage patterns, (ii) derive the analytical transfer matrix for the pipeline with a linear irregular blockage based on these solutions, and (iii) investigate the influences of the linear irregular blockage on the system frequency responses by using the analytical transfer matrix method. The results indicate that the resonant frequency shift pattern caused by the linear irregular blockage is significantly different from that caused by the uniform blockage. These findings may help to gain useful insights and implications for further improvement of the current TBBDM
Year: 2017