Hydraulic Engineering Research Articles

Hydraulic Engineers and Antiquarians: Political Use of the Past in Nineteenth-Century Venice.

The article analyzes the relationship between hydraulics and history in the nineteenth century, often described as a period when the humanities and the sciences split into "two separate cultures." Venice, amphibious city par excellence, is a good starting point for exploring the use of history in water management debates. In the early nineteenth century, humanists and hydraulic engineers came together through multiple disciplinary approaches and in constant confrontation with the Republic of Venice's water policies. In the following decades, while making extensive use of history, these engineers realized and emphasized the diversity of both disciplines' methodologies. This evolution-seen through the writings of renowned hydraulic engineer at the time Pietro Paleocapa-illustrates how history was no longer a source of empirical knowledge but came to be used for rhetorical and political purposes.

Natural flow regulation coefficient of the Kaliningrad region rivers

The natural flow regulation coefficient is used in solving engineering and scientific problems in the field of hydrology, hydraulic engineering. The article presents the results of calculating this coefficient for the rivers of the Kaliningrad region based on the results of observations. The previously developed calculation method in the Mathcad environment was used. The range of changes in the coefficient of natural regulation of the flow of rivers in the Kaliningrad region significantly exceeds the similar range given for the rivers of the North-West of Russia. The closest stochastic relationship is in the coefficient of natural regulation of river flow in the Kaliningrad region with 30-day water discharges.

Missionaries of Light and Progress in Mexico: Engineers and Technological Pilgrims Craft Necaxa Falls, 1890s-1914.

Beginning in 1905, American and European reporters, writers, and artists made pilgrimages to the hydroelectric Necaxa complex in southern Mexico. For the fossil-hungry Mexican nation, advances in hydraulic engineering had made the vision of an electrical-powered industrial future not just desirable but also feasible. North Atlantic water technicians set out to redesign rivers that would power an electrified Mexico. Necaxa was no small, remote project. Its numerous innovations commanded the world's attention, which foreign writers used to recast European and North American ambitions. Through their accounts, these "technological pilgrims" turned Necaxa into a global hydropower imaginary. With foreign engineers in the leading roles, their romanticized narratives rhetorically naturalized the redesign of rivers and the enabling power relations. This article applies a sociotechnical imaginary lens and Necaxa as the case study to show the centrality of rhetorical frames paving the way for new energy technologies.

Implementation of hydraulic and sanitary engineering under the concept building information modeling, in a nine-floor intelligent building, Zapopan, Jalisco

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is the way to work in a coordinated manner among the actors involved in the construction project. This modeling includes all phases of the project: Design, Execution and Maintenance, providing real time information on the building modeling. BIM focuses on empowering and facilitating the understanding of the work program of all the actor in the construction process: Engineers, Architects, Owners, Product Manufactures, Subcontractors, etc., ordering and coordinating the information in each phase of the project, in order to make decisions, avoiding the minimum mistakes or unexpected calculations. The goal of this project is the modeling of the engineering hydraulic and sanitary, for an intelligent building of 9 floors, using REVIT software, the results obtained were the sizing of the pluvial water retention tank and the determination of available pressures (high and low pressure). It is concluded that the use of BIM tools allowed to display 3D, evaluating a logical sequence despite the complexity of its use.

Revisiting Kazakhstan’s Hydraulic Structures: A GIS-Based Approach to Dam Design and Allocation Considering Climate Change and Land Use Scenarios

This article discusses the importance of hydraulic structures, particularly dams, in Kazakhstan’s economy due to water scarcity in many regions. The article highlights the need for a comprehensive approach to the location and design of dams considering climate change and land use scenarios. The article also emphasizes the need to update the design parameters and characteristics of dams to consider changes in land use and climate. The Samarkand reservoir hydrosystem is used as an example to discuss the potential hazards of the new spillway and the need for technical upgrading. The article suggests that the development of an integrated GIS-based approach to survey works, location, and design of dams could improve the quality of design and survey works and lead to the modernization of design and operation of reservoirs. The study proposes the use of modern research methods, including space methods, to provide more flexible and safe management of river flow with consideration of environmental and economic interests. The article concludes that the comprehensive GIS-based methodology for the location and design of dams, considering potential changes in river flow characteristics and the impact of changes in land use and climatic scenarios, can improve efficiency and optimize the work of hydraulic engineers.

Exploring the effect of building openings and orientation on induced loads due to extreme flood events

Understanding the impact of building features on flood-induced loads remains a major challenge. This study experimentally investigated the effect of building openings and orientation on horizontal forces and overturning moments by unsteady extreme floods. The physical model experiments for flood impacts were conducted concerning three intensity flood events (Hi), four porosities (P) resulting by opening, and seven orientations (γ) by building rotation. Measurement of impact forces and moments on the building model was carried out to explore the flood impacts on structures under unsteady flow conditions. By introducing a reduction coefficient of maximum horizontal force ηF, the influence of the porosity and orientation on flood loads was discussed. Results showed that either the building openings or the orientation exhibit a reduction effect on the resulting force and moment, and the magnitude of the reduction is negatively related to the flood intensity. For the permeable building with oriented exposures, the reduction coefficient ηF showed a W-shaped variation trend concerning γ at certain P, exhibiting a variable behavior of force reduction and increase with changes in P and γ. Finally, the load formulas, including maximum horizontal force and maximum overturning moment, were modified by quantifying the effects of openings and orientation, supporting hydraulic engineers for the load design of building structures.

Different Experimental and Numerical Models to Analyse Emptying Processes in Pressurised Pipes with Trapped Air

In hydraulic engineering, some researchers have developed different mathematical and numerical tools for a better understanding of the physical interaction between water flow in pipes with trapped air during emptying processes, where they have made contributions on the use of simple and complex models in different application cases. In this article, a comparative study of different experimental and numerical models existing in the literature for the analysis of trapped air in pressurised pipelines subjected to different scenarios of emptying processes is presented, where different authors have develope, experimental, one-dimensional mathematical and complex computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models (two-dimensional and three-dimensional) to understand the level of applicability of these models in different hydraulic scenarios, from the physical and computational point of view. In general, experimental, mathematical and CFD models had maximum Reynolds numbers ranging from 2670 to 20,467, and it was possible to identify that the mathematical models offered relevant numerical information in a short simulation time on the order of seconds. However, there are restrictions to visualise some complex hydraulic and thermodynamic phenomena that CFD models are able to illustrate in detail with a numerical resolution similar to the mathematical models, and these require simulation times of hours or days. From this research, it was concluded that the knowledge of the information offered by the different models can be useful to hydraulic engineers to identify physical and numerical elements present in the air–water interaction and computational conditions necessary for the development of models that help decision-making in the field of hydraulics of pressurised pipelines.

Investigating two-dimensional deformations of the head of the Central Route of the South–North Water Diversion Project in China with TerraSAR-X datasets

As a landmark in China’s hydraulic engineering history, the Central Route of the South–North Water Diversion Project (SNWD-CR) plays a major role in alleviating severe water shortages in Northern China. Existing InSAR monitoring of the SNWD-CR based on one-dimensional viewing geometry and Sentinel-1 imaging is insufficient for a comprehensive assessment of deformation causes. Moreover, the poor geocoding accuracy hampers the previous interpretation of the estimated deformations. Here we carry out comprehensive two-dimensional deformation analyses over the head of the SNWD-CR by integrating the multitemporal PS/DS InSAR and the stress–strain model, where the well-designed topography and geocoded error correction can help to identify the causes of deformation. We apply our strategy to ascending and descending TerraSAR-X meter-resolution datasets acquired from June 2020 to February 2021. Geocoding errors in both ascending and descending orbits are corrected, and the relationship between topography error and horizontal positioning error is discussed. The multi-data fusion results reveal insignificant deformations in the east–west direction except for a makeshift rigid-frame bridge, whereas the vertical deformation field shows two uplifts and a subsidence area in the narrow canal with a maximum rate of 23 mm/y, which are likely to be related to rainfall and water diversion pressure. Furthermore, the combination of the external DEM and topographic residual offers the chance to reconstruct the high-accuracy DEM.

Nonstationary quantity-duration-frequency (QDF) relationships of lowflow in the source area of the Yellow River basin, China

Study regionThe source area of the Yellow River (SAYR) located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China Study focusThis study attempts to produce the quantity-duration-frequency (QDF) relationships of lowflow through a nonstationary approach of the generalized extreme value (GEV) models. Detailed derivation of theoretical model of different structures and parameter estimation is presented as the central part, followed by model evaluation and recommendation. Time and two climate indices, i.e., Arctic Oscillation (AO) and Eastern Asia (EA), are selected as covariates. New hydrological insights for the regionFor the SAYR, nonstationary GEV models incorporating additional climate-informed covariates show apparent strengths over stationary GEV model. Using AO and EA as covariates, dual-covariate model has not shown apparent advantages over single-covariate model. The introduction of climate indices as critical covariates, in addition to time, is found to be a good choice in the construction of nonstationary GEV models for obtaining the QDF relationships and analyzing multivariate properties of lowflow. The results could help to guide the emergency management and regulation of water resources during the lowflow season, and to assistant the design of water engineering for the future period.

STRUCTURAL WEAKNESS OF THE TWENTY EYES AQUEDUCT IN THE WADI OF CARCAUZ (ALMERIA, SPAIN)

Abstract. The Twenty Eyes Aqueduct is a work of hydraulic engineering with several centuries of history. In the present work, the innovative Cloud-to-BIM-to-FEM methodology is applied, capable of converting BIM models, generated from point clouds, into finite element models. The point cloud was obtained using UAV photogrammetry, carrying out a 3D survey of the current state of the aqueduct and its surroundings. The point cloud obtained has served as the basis for the generation of an HBIM model that accurately represents the geometry of the aqueduct (Cloud-to-BIM). The HBIM model has been transformed into a finite element model that respects the uniqueness of the monument without excessive geometric simplifications (BIM-to-FEM). The structural analysis of the FEM model has been able to evaluate the instability conditions of the assembly in the event of an earthquake, although it does behave adequately in the face of wind actions.

Numerical Investigation of the Cavitation Characteristics in Venturi Tubes: The Role of Converging and Diverging Sections

Cavitation is a typical physical process that has shown to be highly valuable in the wastewater treatment field. This study aims to investigate the effects of the converging and diverging sections of a Venturi tube on the cavitation flow field. Multiphase flows in tubes are presented using the mixture model and the standard k-ε model. And the Schnerr and Sauer cavitation model is employed to simulate the vapor–liquid phase transition process. Both grid independence and the numerical method’s feasibility were validated before the research. The results showed that the influence of the divergence section length on Venturi cavitation characteristics depends on the provided pressure conditions. As the pressure increases, shorter divergence sections result in more significant cavitation effects. The length of the convergence section displays various cavitation behaviors under different pressure situations. A small contraction section length can achieve better cavitation effects in high-pressure applications, whereas the opposite is true in low-pressure cases. Within the scope of this study, it was observed that the Venturi tube with a divergent section of 14 Lt and a convergent one of 2.4 Lt provided enhanced cavitation performance when subjected to inlet pressures ranging from 0.8 to 1.2 MPa. Our findings indicate that the selection of converging and diverging section lengths in Venturi tubes should consider the corresponding operational pressure conditions, which provides valuable guidance and engineering significance in the research and development of Venturi cavitation devices in hydraulic engineering.

Study on the Dynamic Characteristics of the Impact Loads in a Near-Wall Double-Cavitation Bubble Collapse

Cavitation and cavitation erosion are complex hydrodynamic behaviors that significantly influence the stability and reliability of pumping units in aerospace and navigation power systems, hydraulic engineering, and other fields. Studies on cavitation have primarily and heavily focused on the collapse of multiple cavitation bubbles; understanding the movement of multiple cavitation bubbles is important for cavitation research. In this study, the collapse process of near-wall double-cavitation bubbles was numerically simulated and experimentally verified, and the evolution of the near-wall double-cavitation bubble collapse was investigated. Two different distances were altered in the study. The distance between the double-cavitation bubble and the distance between the cavitation bubbles and the wall, the effects of dimensionless parameters, such as the near-wall coefficient and the cavitation bubble spacing coefficient, the collapse time, jet angle, and impact load on the wall can be determined. It was found that the collapse time of the double-cavitation bubbles decreased in a negative exponential distribution with an increase in the cavitation bubble spacing coefficient, along with decreases in a negative exponential distribution with an increase in the near-wall coefficient. The jet angle increased in a negative exponential distribution with an increase in the cavitation bubble spacing coefficient and decreased in a negative exponential distribution with an increase in the near-wall coefficient. The impact load on the wall initially increased and then decreased in the form of a quadratic function, with an increase observed in the cavitation bubble spacing coefficient. With an increase in the near-wall coefficient, the impact load on the wall first decreased, then increased, and finally decreased in the form of a cubic function.

Real-Time Water Level Monitoring Based on GNSS Dual-Antenna Attitude Measurement

Real-time and high-precision water level monitoring is crucial for the fields of hydrology, hydraulic engineering, and disaster prevention and control. The most prevalent method for measuring water level is through the use of water level gauges, which can be costly and have limited coverage. In recent years, Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) technology has emerged as a promising approach for water level monitoring due to its low cost and high coverage. However, a limitation of current GNSS-R technology is the extended time required to record signals, which hinders its potential for real-time application. This paper introduces a novel real-time water level monitoring method based on GNSS dual-antenna attitude measurement and develops a model to invert water level based on baseline vector. This method uses double-difference observations to eliminate errors caused by various factors, such as satellite and receiver clock, and ionospheric and tropospheric delay. To avoid the impact of detecting and correcting cycle slips during real-time operations, a single-epoch calculation method is introduced. In order to verify the stability and reliability of our method, field tests were carried out at Dongshahe Station in Beijing. We obtained water level data with a time resolution of 1 Hz through field experiments. Experimental data collected from 12 May to 8 June 2022 and from 4 July to 8 August 2022 showed good agreement with on-site water gauge measurements, with root mean square errors of 2.77 cm and 2.54 cm, respectively. Experimental results demonstrate that this method can achieve high-precision, high-temporal-resolution water level monitoring.

Effects and interactions of scouring abrasion and external sulfate attack on deterioration of lining concrete: Experiments and preliminary modeling

The conventional tests of dynamic water scouring abrasion (DWSA) on lining concrete for hydraulic discharge tunnel do not consider concomitant sulfate ions that may exist in aggressive aqueous environment and alter the mechanisms and deterioration kinetics of DWSA. In this study, an abrasion-erosion testing system based on natural conditions of the environment has been used to evaluate the influence of volumetric concentration of sediment and the velocity of the scouring flow on abrasion-erosion synergism of lining concrete. To this end, lining concretes were subjected ambient conditions similar to that in drainage tunnel, spillway and stilling basin geographic locations, while implementing abrasion and accelerated external sulfate attack (ESA) test alternately prior to various physical and microstructural analyses. A dynamically decrease of properties on a macroscopic scale was observed, as well as an increase of precipitated ettringite, leached calcium, harmful pore (>200 nm) and sheeted radial micro-cracks, in lining concretes exposed to sediment-laden flow simulated for discharge, which were involved in the co-occurrence of complex degradation mechanisms in specimens exposed to DWSA-ESA. Results indicate that a water body with a high-velocity flow and a high sediment concentration significantly accelerates the sulfate attack on concrete. In contrast, a water body with a low-velocity flow and a low concentration of sediment alleviates the traverse of sulfate ions in concrete due to the inside-out pressure potential. The implications of these synoptic findings may informatively improve the design of abrasion and erosion resistance for concrete when dual exposure to ESA and abrasion is occurred in hydraulic tunnel engineering.

Integration of ROV and vision-based underwater inspection for Limnoperna fortunei in water conveyance structure

The invasion of Limnoperna fortunei (L. fortunei) has been identified as one major biofouling in the operation of hydraulic engineering, which not only corrodes the concrete structures but also reduces the pipe diameter and increases the surface roughness, leading to the decrease of water conveyance capacity and the increase of the project operation cost. To better cope with this problem, an automated underwater inspection analysis scheme for the biofouling of L. fortune is provided in this study, which innovatively integrates the underwater remote operating rover (ROV) and computer vision techniques to inspect and evaluate the invasion of L. fortunei in water conveyance structure. This scheme first presents an image enhancement approach based on the fusion strategy to improve the quality of images extracted from underwater robot inspection videos. Then, the L. fortunei is segmented by U-Net in the enhanced underwater images, and the definition of adherent area ratio quantitatively assesses the biofouling severity. At last, the underwater inspection analysis scheme is implemented in a typical aqueduct, and the automatic analysis results are compared with the field investigation during the emptying maintenance of the aqueduct. In this study, the dataset of real ROV inspection video sequences was first used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method for inspecting L. fortunei invasions in realistic scenarios, and then for the comparison with state-of-the-art methods. The results show that the proposed automated inspection scheme is capable of efficiently improving the underwater imaging quality and accurately detecting the L. fortunei.

Deformation Monitoring and Analysis of Reservoir Dams Based on SBAS-InSAR Technology—Banqiao Reservoir

Most dams in China have been operating for a long time and are products of the economic and technical limitations at the time of construction. Due to decades of aging engineering and ancillary problems, these reservoirs pose great threats to the safety of local people and the development of the surrounding economy. In this study, the surface deformation information for the Banqiao Reservoir is monitored with the small baseline subset–synthetic aperture radar interferometry (SBAS-InSAR) method using 80 Sentinel-1A images acquired from 3 January 2020 to 20 August 2022. Additionally, ground measurements from the BeiDou ground-based deformation monitoring stations were collected to validate the InSAR results. Based on the InSAR results, the spatiotemporal deformation features of the dam were analyzed in detail. The results show that the deformation in most areas, including the dam in the study area, is relatively stable, and the regional deformation velocity of the Banqiao Reservoir dam and other hydraulic engineering facilities varies between −1 mm/y and −4 mm/y. The Ru River area has a relatively obvious subsidence trend, and the maximum subsidence velocity reaches 30 mm/y. The InSAR monitoring results are consistent with the change trend in the BeiDou ground-based deformation measurement results. The monitoring results for the reservoir dam area provide a reference for local sustainable development and geological disaster prevention.

Analysis of the Thermal–Mechanical–Hydraulic Coordination Mechanism of a Constrained Piston Hydraulic Engine

By effectively integrating traditional engines with reciprocating plunger pumps, the constrained piston hydraulic engine can simultaneously output hydraulic energy and rotational mechanical energy, which effectively solves the problems of the complex structure, long power transmission chain, and low energy conversion efficiency of traditional power sources. Based on a certain single-cylinder diesel engine, a single-cylinder axial constrained piston hydraulic engine was designed, and its thermal–mechanical–liquid coordination mechanism was studied and analyzed in-depth. A mathematical model of the thermal–mechanical–liquid coupling working process of the single-cylinder axial hydraulic engine was established, and the conversion mechanism and output of the three types of energy, thermal, mechanical, and liquid, were simulated and analyzed. The results show that under the premise of improving the overall efficiency, the constrained piston hydraulic engine can effectively output mechanical–hydraulic dual-element power, and its combustion characteristics and output power performance indicators meet the expected design requirements. The maximum amplitude difference of the output hydraulic oil flow rate reaches 248 L/min, and the flow rate fluctuates greatly, so it is necessary to adopt methods to suppress the flow rate pulsation to ensure the reliability of the output flow rate.

Damage evolution and failure characteristics of red sandstone with prefabricated crack under coupled dry–wet cycle-fatigue loading

Dry-wet cycle and fatigue loading both severely affect the stability of hydraulic engineering. In this paper, the deterioration process of red sandstone under coupled dry–wet cycle-fatigue loading was investigated from three aspects of deformation, energy, and damage. And the variation law of crack propagation mode of the samples was revealed. The results showed that the elastic modulus and the deformation modulus had a negative correlation with the number of dry–wet cycles, while the maximum strain and the residual strain were the opposite. Coupled damage variable was defined based on porosity and dissipated energy density, and a damage evolution model was established. With the increase of dry–wet cycles, the failure characteristics of the samples evolved from predominantly wing cracks to anti-wing cracks.

Hydrodynamic Model of Hydraulic Engineering Based on Trigonometric Function Relation Equation

Abstract In order to explore the application of fluid mechanics technology in water conservancy and hydropower stations, the author proposes the study of hydraulic engineering fluid mechanics model based on trigonometric function relationship equation. According to standard k- ε Double equation and Reynolds time average (N-S) equation, given the runner boundary conditions, establish the mathematical model of the internal flow of the hydraulic turbine. Through CFD simulation technology, the runner of hydraulic turbine is numerically simulated to obtain the velocity distribution and blade pressure distribution inside the runner, movable guide vane and fixed guide vane, the reliability of the design is improved, and the application of CFD technology in hydropower project is analyzed with an example. The results show that, when the diameter of guide vane distribution circle is 4760mm, the scheme is optimal, and the relative efficiency under the optimal working condition is 96.35%. The flow of the modified runner from the inlet of the volute to the outlet of the draft tube is very stable under the optimal working condition, and there is no obvious vortex, especially there is no obvious vortex belt and vortex at the outlet of the runner; There is no obvious vortex in the draft tube, the flow on both sides of the pier is very uniform, and the flow on one side is not significantly greater than that on the other side, which fully shows that the flow performance of the modified runner is good. After reconstruction, the runner outlet flow field is good, and the internal flow line of the draft tube is smooth. The application prospect of hydrodynamic algorithm for hydraulic engineering is relatively broad.

Numerical Modeling of Natural Fracture Distributions in Shale

AbstractThe production efficiency of shale gas is affected by the interaction between hydraulic and natural fractures. This study presents a simulation of natural fractures in shale reservoirs, based on a discrete fracture network (DFN) method for hydraulic fracturing engineering. Fracture properties of the model are calculated from core fracture data, according to statistical mathematical analysis. The calculation results make full use of the quantitative information of core fracture orientation, density, opening and length, which constitute the direct and extensive data of mining engineering. The reliability and applicability of the model are analyzed with regard to model size and density, a calculation method for dominant size and density being proposed. Then, finite element analysis is applied to a hydraulic fracturing numerical simulation of a shale fractured reservoir in southeastern Chongqing. The hydraulic pressure distribution, fracture propagation, acoustic emission information and in situ stress changes during fracturing are analyzed. The results show the application of fracture statistics in fracture modeling and the influence of fracture distribution on hydraulic fracturing engineering. The present analysis may provide a reference for shale gas exploitation.