Nearby Utilities Research Articles

Soil in Terms of Industrialization and Mining - Consequences and Soil Recovery

The land resource of Republic of Srpska is subject to damage impact caused by four basic groups of soil process: microbiological contamination, chemical contamination, anthropogenic degradation, and physical destruction or soil disappearance. The most common causes of soil contamination are heavy metals, sulphur solutions, organic pollutants, acid rains, pesticides, mineral fertilizers, radioactive radiation, mineral raw material deposits, various waste dump sites and other. Degradation of soil is reflected in the process of land sliding (erosion) and degradation of soil within the soil profile itself (in situ). Destruction of soil is the heaviest form of soil damage and loss. Surface mining of mineral raw materials appears to have the biggest impact resulting in soil loss. Temporary soil loss is usually defined by surface mining of mineral raw materials. Mining activities have most noticeable impacts on environment (soil, water, air, organisms). Technogenic soils are formed by overburden and interbred disposal and development of mineral raw material mining activities. Soil reclamation and other preventive environmental measures are to be taken to decrease adverse impact of mining activities and improve reclamation of degraded surfaces. Reclamation process covers approximately 10% of technogenic soil in Republic of Srpska at three coal basin locations (Gacko, Ugljevik and Stanari). Technogenic soil falls under VII class and I subclass of automorphic soils. Two types of soil belong to this subclass: Deposol and Rekultisol. Deposol represents interburden material moved to storage area before starting reclamation process. Rekultisol defines technogenic soil in different level and intensity of reclamation. The fertility of deposol, same as most other types of technogenic soil is generally poor. The basic goal of technogenic soil reclamation is surface stabilization and improvement of soil fertility. One of the most important properties of soil in the process of reclamation is organic matter content. Regular monitoring is important for collecting information on state of soils, application of reclamation measures, biogenic and other elements content in crop residue at reclaimed surfaces at the locations nearby mining and industrial utilities.

Joint energy management and trading among renewable integrated microgrids for combined cooling, heating, and power systems

Energy depletion and rising demand cause a demand-supply imbalance and power system instability. Centralized energy production makes the system less reliable and less efficient because of problems with transmission and line losses. Conventional microgrids use electricity to heat, cool, and power loads, wasting microturbine surplus heat. To address these issues, a joint energy management and trading model for combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) microgrids is proposed to minimize the system cost as well as enhance the system’s efficiency and reliability. The framework is designed in such a way that, in the first step, each CCHP microgrid will apply demand-side management to meet its load demands from its own generation. If any CCHP microgrid does not have enough self-generated energy to meet its load demands, then it can purchase energy from nearby CCHP microgrids or utility. On the other hand, each CCHP microgrid has the option to sell any extra energy to nearby CCHP microgrids or utility. Furthermore, each CCHP microgrid can use a diesel generator to meet its energy demands if the available energy from its own generation and energy purchased from other CCHP microgrids or utilities is not enough. To solve the problem of integer linear programming, the branch, and bound algorithm is used. The results show a reduction in the system’s overall cost by 33.29% whereas peak energy demand is reduced by 25.76%. Reduction in peak energy demand will minimize the line losses, and hence the system efficiency and reliability will be improved.

Utility trenches: sinks or barriers? Modeling the fate of leaked water in a crowded subsurface

High permeability sand/gravel trenches surrounding utility pipes are deemed to create preferential pathways for water in the subsurface of urban environments. Although this can be true when both trench filling material and surrounding soils are fully water saturated, the same is not obvious in the unsaturated zone. This study explores the behavior of these anthropogenic features in the unsaturated zone and their role in the formation of the urban karst with specific interest to the fate of water leaked from utility pipelines and its potential to affect urban aquifers. A series of 3D steady state numerical simulations was performed assuming two groups of nearby utility trenches hosting a water pipeline, up to 6 concurrent leaks, different leak rates, native soil properties, slopes of the utility trenches, and initial water saturation profiles. The analysis showed that utility trenches in the unsaturated zone are more likely an obstacle to water flow originated from leaking water utilities. Indeed, they served as capillary barriers rather than sinks in the simulations, although with a limited diversion capacity. Nevertheless, a pronounced lateral spreading of leaked water within the trenches was predicted in some scenarios, which suggests that there is still potential for the urban karst effect to occur when native soil properties are not that far from those of the trench filling material, although high initial effective water saturations would be required in this case.

Is the Utility Transmission Syndicate Forever?

Is the Utility Transmission Syndicate Forever?

Mining-induced ground movements and displacements using transparent soil model test

Surface subsidence induced by mining subsidence affects the overlying buildings and nearby utilities. Therefore, an investigation of the internal displacement and surface settlement is very important. A small-scale transparent soil model was developed to study the surface settlement profile and displacement field induced by mining subsidence. An analysis of the continuous change of the displacement field inside the transparent soil models indicates that the subsurface settlement at different subsidence stages can be approximated by a normal probability curve. Additionally, the observed surface settlements are consistent with settlement predictions of both the probability integral method and the Gaussian distribution method. The results indicate that it is a good way to study further the underground structure–soil interaction.

Design and construction of deep excavations in Shanghai, China

With rapid infrastructure construction and urban redevelopment, there has been an increasing demand for utilisation of underground spaces, which gives rise to a large number of excavation projects. In the past decade, a series of new trends have emerged on excavation engineering in Shanghai, China. As available ground resources in congested urban areas are scarce, excavations become much larger and deeper than before. More excavations have to be carried out in close proximity to existing buildings, tunnels, utilities and other structures. Any severe damages to the nearby utilities probably lead to economic losses and complicated conflicts among owners, tenants, utility customers and the public. As a consequence, it is of great concern not only to ensure the safety of the excavation itself but also to mitigate adverse excavation-induced influences on the adjacent environment. This paper presents recent developments in practical design and construction techniques of controlling excavation-induced deformations in Shanghai. Commonly used techniques including the top-down construction method, ground improvement, the zoned excavation method and the underpinning technique are described and discussed. Relevant instrumented case histories on excavations in different types of urban environment are reported as well.

Numerical Modeling of Ground Movement due to Twin Tunnel Structure of Esfahan Subway, Iran

Tunneling operations in urban areas are always associated with surface and subsurface ground movement, which may affect the stability of nearby structures and utilities. One of the main issues in the analysis and design of tunnels, is ground movement after the support systems and settlement systems caused by excavation. This paper takes the discrete element calculation software of Universal Distinct Element Code (UDEC) to set three dimensional calculations models to simulate the construction of Esfahan subway tunnel, analyzing the displacement and stress dynamic response during the construction process. The paper also carries out the comparison analysis of the field measurement of the ground movement. The result indicates that the simulation objectively reflected the rules of movement during the construction process. The results show that the tunnels are stable before support system installation and the tunnel induced movement is allowable.

Open To Opportunities: Central Arkansas Water Consumes Nearby Utility

Open To Opportunities: Central Arkansas Water Consumes Nearby Utility

Attenuation of Pipe Ramming-Induced Ground Vibrations

AbstractPipe ramming installations generally induce high levels of ground vibrations that may affect the structural integrity of nearby buildings and utilities. This paper investigates the ground vibrations associated with pipe ramming installations and develops reliable models for estimating the ground vibration levels in an effort to avoid the undesirable effects of the vibrations. The study presents field observations of ground vibrations in which an open-ended steel casing 1,070 mm in diameter and 37 m long was driven into granular soils using two pneumatic hammers of varying energy. The ground vibrations observed during the installation are presented as a function of magnitude of peak particle velocity, frequency content, and direction of propagation. Observations indicate that a wide range of amplitudes and frequencies is possible, ranging from 1 to 100 mm/s and 20 to 100 Hz, respectively, for the case of forward and laterally propagating vibrations. The forward-propagating vibrations were observed...

Debris as Resources Applied in Wild Creeks Remediation Work

In recent years, especially after typhoon Morakot, extreme torrential rain has resulted in large amounts of landslides in Taiwan. Debris that accumulated downslope blocked the drainage way and induced debris flow very often. The large amount of debris transported to wild creeks downstream may caused elevated riverbeds and channel siltation. All nearby villages and utilities are under this threat. The cleanout work of aggregated debris is of great priority after a disaster. In processing the cleanout work for wildcreek, debris can be treated as useful resources. This is very important in the watershed management and rehabilitation work. In solving the debris blockage problem, cleanout of debris so as to recover the drainage capability of watershed and at the same time, use the earth material to form the protecting measures can meet the carbon reduction requirement. Cleanout of the debris can be used in filling low-lying land in the upstream catchment area. By applying feasible methods to improve engineering properties of the debris can be used to make a variety of protective measures, to resolve the loss of land, roads, damaged buildings and other issues. In planning, the first is to consider the location and the protected object, etc., can be planned establish of embankment, bank protection, slope protection, and berms.

Probabilistic Assessment of Serviceability Limit State of Diaphragm Walls for Braced Excavation in Clays

AbstractBraced excavation systems are commonly required to ensure stability in the construction of basements for shopping malls and underground transportation facilities. For excavations in deposits of soft clays, stiff retaining wall systems such as diaphragm walls help to restrain ground movements and wall deflections in order to prevent damage to nearby buildings and utilities. It is quite common for designers to limit the maximum wall deflection to 0.5% times the maximum excavation depth. However, a review of measured diaphragm wall displacements from various published case histories of successful deep excavations show that wall deflections can be up to more than 2% times the excavation depth. Since the allowable threshold wall displacement depends on various influencing parameters, wall deflections should not be limited to an arbitrary value. This paper presents a probabilistic framework combining a simplified wall deflection estimation model with reliability methods to determine the probability of s...

Tree Risk Assessment Methods: A Comparison of Three Common Evaluation Forms

All trees pose some level of risk to nearby people, structures, and utilities. As trees age or become weakened by pests, disease, and/or other stresses, a tree owner or manager may need to decide what risk level he or she is willing to accept and what modifications may be needed. Experienced arborists can aid in this decision process by conducting a professional risk assessment that specifies the likelihood of whole or partial tree failure, the consequences of such a failure, and the potential targets affected. A variety of risk assessment methods have been developed to guide professionals through the tree inspection process. In North America, three risk assessment methods have gained the greatest acceptance among tree care professionals, municipal urban forestry programs, and government agencies. This 8-page fact sheet was written by Andrew K. Koeser, Gitta Hasing, Drew McLean, and Rob Northrop, and published by the UF Department of Environmental Horticulture, November 2013.

Selecting Location of Retail Stores Using Artificial Neural Networks and Google Places API

Selection of locations of retail stores (similarly, facilities) is a kind of decision problem in which the researcher targets maximum profit or minimum cost by using statistical or judgmental forecasts. In many cases, statistical forecasts are based on survey data or data collected for an other store which are not reliable as the survey may not measure the potential demand or the other store that is used for comparison may not be similar enough. Addition to this, estimating the potential demand for a non-existing store can be expensive. Google Places API is a software library which provides a nearby search utility that is able to report several kinds of institutions, establishments and other objects placed in a circumferential area for a given radius. In this paper, we suggest a method which is based on estimating the relation between environmental properties of existing retail stores and their financial rankings. We remark that feed forward neural networks are capable to reveal such a relation as they permit using both integer, real and binary variables in the model and non-linearity. We apply our method on the location selection problem of a retail stores chain in Turkey (Note 1) which has $144$ clients in its organization. Expert opinions in the organization show us applicability of this method is high in similar situations.

Quarry blasts assessment and their environmental impacts on the nearby oil pipelines, southeast of Helwan City, Egypt

Ground vibrations induced by blasting in the cement quarries are one of the fundamental problems in the quarrying industry and may cause severe damage to the nearby utilities and pipelines. Therefore, a vibration control study plays an important role in the minimization of environmental effects of blasting in quarries. The current paper presents the influence of the quarry blasts at the National Cement Company (NCC) on the two oil pipelines of SUMED Company southeast of Helwan City, by measuring the ground vibrations in terms of Peak Particle Velocity (PPV). The seismic refraction for compressional waves deduced from the shallow seismic survey and the shear wave velocity obtained from the Multi channel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) technique are used to evaluate the closest site of the two pipelines to the quarry blasts. The results demonstrate that, the closest site of the two pipelines is of class B, according to the National Earthquake Hazard Reduction Program (NEHRP) classification and the safe distance to avoid any environmental effects is 650m, following the deduced Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) and scaled distance (SD) relationship (PPV=700.08×SD−1.225) in mm/s and the Air over Pressure (air blast) formula (air blast=170.23×SD−0.071) in dB. In the light of prediction analysis, the maximum allowable charge weight per delay was found to be 591kg with damage criterion of 12.5mm/s at the closest site of the SUMED pipelines.

A Systematic Approach for Medium-Voltage Power Factor Correction Design

The value proposition for the installation of power factor (PF) correction (PFC) to avoid costly utility penalties is easily understood. The attractive payback of such PFC opportunities often pushes the project ahead without engineering considerations. In the case of medium-voltage PFC, lack of upfront engineering can lead to unexpected consequences in the performance of the PFC equipment ranging from nuisance trips and blown fuses to catastrophic failure in the extreme. In this paper, the authors propose a systematic approach to the design of PFC for medium-voltage systems. Three actual case studies were selected to illustrate this systematic approach and show that it can be applied regardless of the size, type, and complexity of the facility. Such a methodology is composed of load flow and harmonic measurements, harmonic analysis, utility billing demand and PF analysis, and reactive compensation specification in the form of either capacitors or harmonic filters, if needed. Diverse and competing design constraints, including daily and week load cycles, nearby utility capacitors, switched or stepped requirements, specifics of utility tariffs, loads with high harmonic content, and harmonic resonance, are identified, analyzed, and then incorporated into the solution to ensure successful performance of the PFC equipment.

Pentachlorophenol contamination of private drinking water from treated utility poles.

In 2009, after resident calls regarding an odor, the Vermont Department of Health and state partners responded to 2 scenarios of private drinking water contamination from utility poles treated with pentachlorophenol (PCP), an organochlorine wood preservative used in the United States. Public health professionals should consider PCP contamination of private water if they receive calls about a chemical or gasoline-like odor with concurrent history of nearby utility pole replacement.

Control Standard of Ground Surface Settlement Induced by Running Tunnel Construction in Beijing Subway

Ground settlement, especially the ground surface settlement induced by subway tunneling is an important issue. However, there is no an agreed standard for controlling ground surface settlement during the subway construction at present. The control standard of ground surface settlement was studied using the methods of statistical analysis and numerical simulation based on the running tunnel in Beijing subway. According to the research results, a conclusion could be obtained that the ground surface settlement can be controlled within 40 mm using the general construction measures in Beijing subway running tunnel construction, and furthermore, the settlement of 40mm will not damage the existing nearby structures and utilities including neighboring buildings, bridges and pipelines, etc. So the control valve of 40 mm is rational, which can be adopted as the control standard of ground surface settlement induced by running tunnel construction in Beijing subway.

Environmental risk management for a cross interchange subway station construction in China

Ground surface settlement induced by urban subway construction using shallow tunnelling method is inevitable and it may cause a series of negative impact to existing nearby structures and utilities. In order to guarantee environmental safety, a risk management methodology which aims at process control for ground settlement and existing nearby structures is proposed. It includes 5-stage technology-based steps: survey of existing conditions, designing control standards for key risk factors, analyzing environmental response under tunnel construction and designing process control standards, monitoring and taking proper process control measures during construction, and risk reassessment after construction. This methodology was put into practice in the Huangzhuang subway station construction which is the largest cross interchange subway station construction using shallow tunnelling method in China. According to site survey, nearby pipelines and existing buildings were determined to be the key risk factors. The risk control standards for nearby pipelines and existing buildings were made according to available standards in China and related literatures. Design of process control standards for ground surface settlement was assisted by numerical simulation, which aimed at controlling the key risk factors. During construction, monitoring was adopted for the nearby pipelines, existing buildings and ground surface. After the four drifts excavation of the double-deck part of Line 4, a series of risk control measures, which included treatment of the unfavorable geological bodies, installation of roof pipes, compensation grouting, full-face grouting and some other control measures, were taken. Due to these risk control measures, ground surface settlements, except at two measuring points of Line 4, were successfully controlled under the given process control standards for both Line 4 and Line 10. All the pipelines and buildings were under their normal service state during tunnel construction. The maximum deflection for the 6 pipelines above the station was controlled to be within 2 mm/m and the maximum settlement of all the monitoring points for the pipelines was less than 30 mm. For the four important existing buildings in close vicinity, the maximum deflection was less than 1 mm/m; the maximum settlement value was 6.8 mm and the maximum uplift value was 3.0 mm. The risk control system was shown to be effective in ensuring environment safety, structure safety and construction safety. These safety control methods, the methodology of designing these control standards and the measures taken in the construction can serve as a practical reference for other similar projects.

Response of a polyvinyl chloride water pipe when transverse to an underlying pipe replaced by pipe bursting

An existing deteriorated or hydraulically undersized pipe can be replaced with a new pipe by static pipe bursting. Cavity expansion during pipe bursting induces ground movements, which may potentially damage nearby buried utilities if they are in close proximity to the pipe bursting operation. A large-scale pipe bursting experiment was performed in an 8 m long, 8 m wide, and 3 m deep test pit filled with a well-graded sand and gravel soil. A polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe, crossing transversely and 0.45 m above the existing pipe being replaced, was instrumented with strain gages to quantify the response of that transverse utility to the ground movements associated with pipe bursting. In this paper, the measured strain and corresponding deflection of the PVC pipe are examined and compared with measurements of surface uplift. The maximum longitudinal strain measured in the pipe was less than 0.1% and its vertical diameter decreased by only 0.5%, suggesting that ground displacements induced by pipe bursting did not jeopardize the transverse water pipe’s long-term performance, provided its joints were not damaged. A simplified design equation is introduced and shown to provide estimates of maximum longitudinal strain in the PVC pipe close to those measured during the laboratory experiment.

Cost Plus

This article tests the importance of cost, demand, institutional, and geographic factors on the bills that consumers pay for water and sewer service in North Carolina and the pricing signals that utilities send to customers. The authors apply spatial regression models to test whether other factors besides costs drive rate-setting practices. Results indicate that cost factors, operating ratio, temperature, the application of “outside” rates, and utilities' primary importance on affordable rates affect combined water and sewer bills at average levels of residential consumption. The study also finds that bills are significantly and positively correlated to bills paid in nearby utilities. Community income and the percent of customers below the poverty line are weakly associated with combined bills. However, utilities facing higher growth rates and those that value conservation are no more likely to send stronger pricing signals than others.