Detection of gas pockets in pressurised wastewater mains using dynamic system response analysis

In the Netherlands, wastewater is mostly collected in combined sewer system and transported to a WWTP through pressure mains. These pressure mains form an element of the system that did not receive much attention lately with respect to monitoring of performance and maintenance. For that reason, their state of functioning is often not known. Failure of operation is only noticed when during storm conditions the capacity of the system drops, resulting in undesirable discharge to the surface water. A recently made inventory showed that about half of the pressure mains show increased pressure loss for no obvious reason. Reduction of the systems nominal capacity can result from many causes, like increased wall roughness, scaling and the occurrence of free gas in the pipeline. The occurrence of gas-pockets may be caused by degassing of dissolved gas, but also by air entrapment at the pump inlet or at air valves. A research project is started that will be carried out from 2003 to 2005. This project focuses on three goals: the description of the gas-water transport phenomena in wastewater pressure mains, a method to detect and diagnose gas problems, and to overcome future problems by either applying remedial measures or by developing improved design methods for wastewater pressure systems. This paper describes the layout of the experimental set-up to detect and diagnose gas problems and the first results of the experiments are presented and discussed. The results are used to validate a model (Wanda) developed by Delft Hydraulics that describes the phenomena involved in surges in air/water transport.