Water Transmission Line Research Articles

The performance of transmission pipelines on February 6th, 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquake: a series of case studies

AbstractThe Mw 7.8 earthquake that struck Kahramanmaras on February 6, 2023, caused significant damage to hydrocarbon and water transmission lines due to permanent ground deformations. Explosions occurred in the Kahramanmaras–Gaziantep Natural Gas transmission pipeline causing disruption of gas in the cities of Gaziantep and Hatay Fault Displacement Hazard. Water transmission pipelines were also damaged due to extreme fault offsets. This paper presents the findings from the earthquake affected zones. Particular attention was given to the performance of the 2600 mm diameter Duzbag–Gaziantep water transmission pipeline due to three reported challenges: (#1) The behavior of the pipe in the Duzbag tunnel, (#2) The pipe bend behavior at the fault crossing, and (#3) The pull-out of the pipe at valve room. Based on field observations, extreme damage forms at pipes were presented. A three-dimensional nonlinear numerical analysis was performed to simulate the observed damage of the reoriented water pipe at the fault crossing for Case #2. The nonlinear finite element model was able to capture the complex nature of the post-yield behavior of steel pipe as well as the damage locations along the pipe and their sequence of occurrences. As a mitigation measure for new pipes, the need for using flexible connections at critical crossings was highlighted. For existing pipes, the importance of developing secondary (by-pass) lines was emphasized.

Water hammer stress on water transmission line

ABSTRACT The present work investigated the pressure changes caused by water hammer through the georeferenced model to investigate the stress impact on water transmission lines. The results of the hydraulic analysis of the research showed that the sudden stop of the pumps in the transmission line 1,600 m in length caused negative pressures of −5 to −10 (bar). In pressure values close to −10 (bar), the water vaporization, cavitation, and separation of the column happened. The maximum pressure in the transmission line was calculated to be 43 (mH2O) and the minimum pressure in the transmission line was 10 (mH2O). The relative vacuum mentioned in the transmission line as a destructive factor caused two columns of steam and water to collide. The collision of two columns caused a great pressure that had the potential to destroy the transmission line. The research results showed that the maximum amount of elastic strain was equal to 16772E-7 mm/m. The equivalent stress beneath the pipe Q4 varied from 0.000 to 7E-2 m and the maximum stress value was 3.3535E7 (Pascal). The maximum amount of deformation or change in the shape and size of the pipe due to the applied stress (0.000–7E-2 m) was equivalent to 1.9287E5 m.

A novel mathematical model for simultaneous optimization of desalination plant location and water distribution network; A case study

In recent decades, water scarcity has turned into a serious problem spanning many countries, now even capable of causing or inflaming ethnic and national conflicts. While our planet has very limited freshwater resources, it has huge amounts of saltwater in seas and oceans. There is a very limited number of ways that can make saltwater drinkable, the most important of them is desalination. This study aimed to provide a method for the simultaneous optimization of desalination plant location and its water distribution network based on mathematical modeling. For this purpose, the authors formulated a non-linear mathematical model with the objective of minimizing the costs of water production and transmission. A genetic algorithm was also developed for solving the proposed nonlinear model. The method was used in a case study of Sistan and Baluchestan, which is one of Iran's most water stressed provinces. The proposed genetic algorithm managed to provide an acceptable solution for this problem in 3.74 s. The best solution was found to be constructing a desalination facility with a capacity of 394,052 cubic meters per day in a single location, that is, the city of Chabahar. The water transmission lines needed for transporting water to other parts of the province and their capacities were also determined.

Optimal selection of parallel pumps running as turbines for energy harvesting in water transmission lines considering economic parameters

The need for energy is growing due to concerns about development and well-being, but the traditional methods of energy production harm people and the environment. This impact can be reduced by using renewable energy sources like hydropower. Since the cost of electromechanical equipment in small hydroelectric power plants accounts for a large percentage of the capital cost, applying the pump as turbine (PAT) is recommended. In this research, an effort has been made to select the optimal arrangement of PATs for a water transmission line without the need for control systems. The selection optimization process involves selecting the model of the pump as turbine and the number of turbines in parallel simultaneously. The optimization process relies on economic parameters, aiming to maximize the Net Present Value (NPV) of the power plant. In addition, the financial analysis of the project has been carried out. As a first step to achieve this objective, a database including single and double-suction pumps based on available pumps is needed. To cover a wider range of heads and flow rates, impeller trimming relationships for the pumps are considered. The Brute-Force algorithm has been used for the optimization process and two different objective functions (OF) have been investigated. First, it is based on economic optimization, and the NPV function is used as the OF; then, the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) method is used as the second OF. The case study of this research is a water transmission line between two cities in Iran. A MATLAB code has been developed to perform all the steps of this study. The results demonstrate that by considering impeller trimming for pumps in the database and using NPV as OF, the number of pumps used for the power plant decreased from 12 to 6 and the capital cost decreased by about 10%. By implementing impeller trimming, the NPV and energy production of the PAT power plant are increased. Comparing the two desired objective functions leads to the recommended appropriate OF for applications. It is worth mentioning that the harvested energy from this water transmission line is about 9 GWh/year. The economic analysis results show that the PAT power plant payback period (PP) for this water transmission line is less than one year.

Distributed state estimation for leak detection in water supply networks

In this paper, we focus on observer-based approaches of leak detection and isolation in pipeline networks, which has the potential to be extended to large-scale water supply network systems, while in previous studies only single pipeline scenario is considered. Due to several disadvantages of implementing centralized state estimation for large-scale systems, the distributed Kalman filter algorithm has been applied in this paper. The observers are designed on the basis of a set of nonlinear fluid models of pipelines, pumps and other hydraulic accessories, with uncertainties in leak position and magnitude. The approach assumes only flow and pressure measurements at the ends of each duct. Simulation results with a water transmission line are presented to assess the efficiency of the proposed distributed state estimation method while comparing with its centralized counterpart.

Cost Analysis of Implementing In-Pipe Hydro Turbine in the United Arab Emirates Water Network

Water transmission lines have potential reserved energy, which is usually lost. Therefore, targeting this clean energy to produce electricity to power up the auxiliaries and utilities of water plants or consumers is financially and environmentally beneficial. This paper aims to investigate the feasibility of installing an inline hydropower system in an existing transmission water pipe. It analyzes the feasibility of implementing a mini-hydropower plant in the transmission line of Liwa’s reservoir in the UAE. The maximum possible power harvested is 218.175 kW at the given water flow rate and net head. The payback period and the return on investment are analyzed based on different scenarios related to capital investment, operation, maintenance cost, and plant capacity factor. It is found that the payback period ranges between one to six years, where the return on investment can be as high as 85%. Furthermore, the expected CO2 emissions saving for this project is calculated to be between 395 and 1939 tons per year.

Experimental Investigation of the Emptying Process and Air Cavity Dynamic in Pipelines

The emptying process of initially stagnant full-pipe flows in sewer systems and water transmission lines was extensively studied in the literature. The following air intrusion and depressurization wavefronts can cause several issues such as the collapse of pipes, damage to joints, and valves. However, there is a lack of study on the emptying process when the flow has initial velocity. Thus, the present study focuses on the emptying process of a full-pipe flow with an initial flow rate, which decreases during the emptying process. For this purpose, two experiments without and with initial flow rates were performed in a reservoir-circular pipe system. In both experiments, an air cavity intrusion starts downstream of the pipe at the top of the free-surface flow and propagates upstream. It was found that when there is no initial flow rate, the pressure inside the cavity is atmospheric. However, when there is an initial flow rate, at the onset of the air intrusion, a subatmospheric pressure develops inside the air cavity. It was also found that the magnitude of this subatmospheric pressure decreases when the cavity further propagates upstream. In addition, when there is an initial flow rate, the cavity appears at a certain driving pressure.

Isolated pressure zones based on GIS as a solution for water network problems

Abstract One of the most important accidents for water transmission lines occur by air entrance due to water hammer into the water pipeline at sub-atmospheric transient pressure. The air can be sucked into the water system causing repeated pipe breaks in sub-atmospheric transient pressure. This work aimed to improve the advanced techniques including remote sensing (RS), and the internet of things (IoT) to control the repeated pipe breaks. According to the geospatial information systems (GIS), the relationship classes between the spatial and non-spatial data were defined for the scaled model. By GIS the location of pipe breaks and sucking air into water pipeline was recognized during fluid instabilities. The location of pipe breaks was defined by the numerical modelling based on GIS. According to numerical analysis, the Courant number was equal to 0.977. In the field test, the surge velocity was 1084 m/s. The pressure wave was detected in 0.005 s by RS facilities equipped with water hammer sensors, advanced modems, and data loggers referring to the IoT technique. The result of this work led to a reduction of the non-revenue water (NRW) and the saving of drinking water.

Capacity configuration and economic evaluation of a power system integrating hydropower, solar, and wind

Determining the economic feasibility and optimal capacity scheme of a hybrid system is the premise of its development. This study proposed a framework for capacity configuration and economic evaluation of the hydro-solar/photovoltaic-wind power system. First, a hydro-solar-wind power system capacity configuration and economic evaluation mathematical model aiming at the maximum net present value was presented. Then, an economic dispatch model of cascade hydropower plants considering flood control level and water supply demand was established, and its target is to maximize the hydropower annual electricity revenues. Finally, the framework was examined by a practical project in China. The results indicated that (1) the hydro-solar-wind power system in Qinghai Province is economically feasible; (2) the hydro-solar-wind complementation leads to the increase of multi-year average water abandonment rate and transmission line utilization hours. Through the regulation of cascade reservoirs, the multi-year average water abandonment rate can be obviously reduced and the hydropower annual electricity revenues can be increased; (3) the hydro-solar-wind power system capacity configuration and economic evaluation model is most sensitive to feed-in tariff, social discount rate, and annual average utilization hours of solar/wind. Thus, this study has important guiding value for the economic development of the hydro-solar-wind power system.

Reducing the Effects of Water Hammer Phenomenon in Pipelines by Changing the Closing Rate of Line Break Valve (LBV)

Line break valves in pipelines are using to prevent environmental hazards caused by the entry of the fluid into the surrounding. The operation of these valves leads to sudden changes in pressure and velocity, resulting in the occurrence of the water hammer phenomenon. The water hammer pressure will cause serious problems such as the destruction of pipelines and transmission line equipment and tools. Due to the salinity of water, when a fracture occurs, the amount of water that enters the surrounding is environmentally essential, so the use of several LBVs is vital. This paper investigated a water transmission line with a total length of 337 km that transfers saline water from Khoor Moosa to Azadegan plain. This study discussed the closing of the valve at different rates and the solution to reduce its destructive effects. WaterGEMS V8i software and Hammer V8i software are respectively using to perform a steady flow simulation and damping flow analysis for this phenomenon. The results obtained from the steady-state flow simulation is the initial conditions in the damping flow calculations. Then, by reducing the closing rate of the valve in 6 different scenarios, the volume of air chambers decreased. Finally, the results led to creating a linear relationship between the valve closing rate and the capacity of the air chamber. The optimal model for this rate depends on reducing the construction cost as well as the environmental hazards caused by discharged water.

New metaheuristic methodology for solving security constrained hydrothermal unit commitment based on adaptive genetic algorithm

In this paper, a new metaheuristic technique based on genetic algorithm (GA), adaptive strategy and two constraint handling repair mechanisms is proposed for solving the Security Constrained Hydrothermal Unit Commitment (SCHTUC). The performance efficiency of the proposed technique is demonstrated on IEEE 30 BUS test system consisting of four thermal units and two hydro power plants. A wide range of thermal, hydraulic, and security constraints such as real power balance constraint, ramp rate, minimum up/down time, minimum and maximum limits of thermal and hydro units, prohibited operating zones (POZ), valve point effect, spinning reserve, available production, water dynamic balance and transmission line constraint are taken into account. The simulation results obtained from the new binary/real GA are compared with the outcomes obtained from some heuristic methods, such as DA-PSO and PSO-GWO to reveal the validity and verify the feasibility of the proposed technique. The test results show that the proposed metaheuristic technique has the capability of obtaining better solutions with respect to other optimization methods which are implemented on this optimization problem.

Flood Control Risk Identification and Quantitative Assessment of a Large-Scale Water Transfer Project

Flood control risk is one of the main risks affecting the safe operation of large-scale water transfer projects. Systematically identifying the flood control risk in the project and carrying out risk classification and hierarchical management are problems for project managers. Based on the theory of system and risk assessment, this paper starts with the various risk sources and risk events involved in the whole process of the flood disaster chain, the risk of flood disaster factors, the exposure of the disaster-bearing body, and the vulnerability of the disaster-originating environment are combined. Then, we systematically and comprehensively identify the flood control risks of a large-scale water transfer project, which are divided into four types of risk elements: rainfall–runoff; confluence and flow capacity; the geological characteristics of canal section; economic and social layouts. Specific risk factors are identified for each type of risk element, and a flood control risk evaluation index system for a water transfer project is proposed. According to the framework of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a quantitative assessment of comprehensive flood control for water transfer projects is carried out. Taking the middle route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in China as an example, this paper evaluates the integrated flood control risks of 39 engineering units, identifies six units with higher risk levels, analyzes the causes, and suggests engineering and non-engineering countermeasures to prevent and reduce the occurrence of risk accidents. This method is not only used for comprehensive flood control risk assessment and risk management in the operation and management stage of the large-scale inter-basin water transfer project, but also has a reference value in considering the optimal layout of the project water transmission line from the perspective of flood control in the planning and design stage.

Valve Detection for Autonomous Water Pipeline Inspection Platform

Water distribution and transmission lines are indispensable to urban infrastructure. The water pipelines are subject to both structural and functional deterioration due to various reasons including aging, negligence, and high demand for water supply. Hence, to ensure a safe and reliable water supply, the water utilities need to perform routine pipe condition assessment. The condition assessment is usually carried out by visual inspection with the machine vision system carried by a robotic platform. The inspection platforms will capture the internal condition of the water pipelines in a video stream. However, the robotic platform frequently experiences difficulties while traversing through the valves installed along the pipeline. This inhibits and disrupts the inspection process of the water pipelines. Therefore, this article proposes a deep learning-based automatic valve detection framework to facilitate the robot’s navigation and ensure continuous inspection without any interruptions. The valve detection model is developed by combining MobileNet-160 and Feature Pyramid Network and is named as MFPN. The developed framework also employs a generative adversarial network to solve the sparse dataset issues and improve the generality of the framework. The comparative study and ablation analyses demonstrate that the proposed framework can achieve a higher mAP value of 89.11% in comparison with the state of the art. Hence, this light weight and efficient solution can be deployed to the robotic platform for real-time valve detection and enable autonomous navigation of the robotic platform for condition assessment of water pipelines.

Development of 200 kV multi-function pulsed radiation system

<sec>A multi-functional pulsed radiation system with a peak voltage of 200 kV, an impedance of 2 Ω, and a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 30 ns is developed. The system can be switched flexibly in two states of generating pulsed electron beam and pulsed X-ray by changing the cathode and anode. It consists of a pulse power driving source, a vacuum diode, and an experimental cavity. A Marx generator, a high energy storage water transmission line, and two pulse compression switches are utilized to generate a high voltage on diode. An effector can be placed in the experimental cavity which has the same vacuum as diode. An insulation structure of transmission line and a diode are optimized to guide in system design. The system can provide a multi-functional experimental platform for investigating pulse power technology, system-generated electromagnetic pulse, biological radiation effect, etc.</sec><sec> The Marx generator generates a high-voltage pulse with hundreds of nanoseconds in FWHM and hundreds of kilovolts in peak value. The pulse is compressed by the main switch and pulse forming switch and then loaded to the diode. Electrons are emitted from diode cathode under the high-voltage pulse and accelerated in the gap. The electrons are extracted directly or converted into X-ray through the anode. Aluminized polyethylene is used as an anode when pulsed electron beam is generated, and tantalum film is used when pulsed X-ray is generated. Working state can be switched by changing the cathode and anode of diode.</sec><sec> The result shows that a current of 83 kA pulsed electron beam and an average energy of 67 keV X-ray are generated. Pulsed X-ray has good uniformity and low electron proportion (0.02%). In order to monitor the operation state and output parameter of the system comprehensively, a complete measurement system is established. Three capacitive voltage dividers are set at the beginning of transmission line, the end of pulse forming line, and the end of output line, while a B - dot current monitor is set at the diode. A Faraday cup is developed to measure the current intensity and the total energy of pulsed electron beam. For energy spectrum, dose and electron proportion, the measurement system composed of pulsed X-ray including spectrometric system, dose system and Rogowski Coil is build.</sec>

Are the Water Quality Improvement Measures of China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project Effective? A Case Study of Xuzhou Section in the East Route.

Xuzhou is the hub city of the east route of China’s South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project and implemented dozens of measures to ensure the water quality security of the water transmission line. In order to detect the effectiveness of water quality improvement measures, the monthly water quality data of five water quality parameters from 2005 to 2015 of six state-controlled monitoring sites in Xuzhou section were selected for analysis. The results showed that the water quality improved from 2.95 in 2005 to 2.74 in 2015, as assessed by the comprehensive water quality identification index (CWQII), and basically reached the Class III standards of China’s Environmental Quality Standard for Surface Water (GB3838-2002) from 2011 to 2015. The trend analysis showed that the decline of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) was the most obvious among the five water quality parameters. However, the concentrations of phosphorus (TP) showed significant upward trends at three sites. The positive abrupt change of time series of water quality occurred in 2009–2011. The identification of influencing factors of water quality changes by multivariate statistical methods found that the urbanization factor accompanied by a decrease in agricultural nonpoint source pollution emissions and the enhancement of wastewater treatment capacity, the closure of factories with substandard emissions and precipitation were the major influencing factors of most water quality parameters, which confirmed the effectiveness of measures for water quality improvement in Xuzhou.

Recovering energy by hydro-turbines application in water transmission pipelines: A case study west of Saudi Arabia

Pressurized water transmission lines reserve amounts of energy that are dissipated by pressure control devices. The dissipated energy may be recovered by installing hydro-turbines at high pressure points and benefit from power production and decreasing CO2 emissions. In this work, an existing transmission water pipe was simulated under several velocity scenarios, and results indicated that an extensive amount of energy can be recovered by installing Pelton turbines. The approach began by identifying the location of the residual pressure in the system and quantifying the amount of power to be harvested. Afterwards, the pipeline was redesigned by changing the allowed velocity from 1 to 2.5 m/s consecutively. Moreover, the best fitting turbine was selected at each of the residual pressure locations and outputted the potential amount of power to be produced. Finally, a financial and environmental evaluation of the presented solution was conducted. Based on this methodology, the total system cost was reduced by 2.74% because of adopting the maximum allowable velocity of 2 m/s. System optimization allowed for the installation of hydro-power plants with total capacity of 5,751 kW and energy payback period of 9.46 years. Moreover, a reduction in carbon footprint was estimated by 35,295t of CO2 per year.

An Intensive Cultural Resources Investigation for the Redbud Pump Station Transmission Water Line Project Collin County, Texas

The City of McKinney (City) is proposing to construct and maintain 2.2 kilometers (km; 1.4 miles [mi]) of 42- inch (in) water transmission line for the Redbud Pump Station Transmission Water Line Project (Project) located within the City of McKinney, in west-central Collin County, Texas (Appendix A, Figure 1). On behalf of the City, BGE, Inc. (BGE) conducted an intensive pedestrian survey augmented by shovel testing of the Project. Because the proposed project is being contracted by the City of McKinney, a political subdivision of the state of Texas, the project sponsor is required under the Texas Antiquities Code and the Texas Natural Resources Code Chapter 26 ‘Rules of Practice and Procedure for the Antiquities Code of Texas’ to obtain a Texas Antiquities Permit to perform cultural resources investigations to assess whether cultural resources are present that may rise to the level of significance of State Antiquities Landmark (SAL) status. The Texas Historical Commission (THC) has assigned Antiquities Permit number 8763 to the Project. Furthermore, project construction designs minimize impacts to Waters of the United States (WOTUS) crossed by the project, not meeting the minimum threshhold established under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) for the requirement of a Pre-Construction Notification (PCN) to the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

Models of Hydraulic Factors Analysis Based on Genetic Programming for South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route Project

The South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route Project has long water transmission line, complicated operation conditions for water conservancy dispatch, and high water diversion demands. It is important to calculate and analyse the correlation among hydraulic factors for water diversion. At present, the traditional hydraulic empirical formulas are used to evaluate relation of hydraulic elements in Middle Route Project, the parameters need to be manually corrected by measured data during operation, and the flexibility is poor. Model based on genetic programming is suggested for data mining of water conveyance dispatch. Correlativity function can be established automatically by genetic operations including selection, crossover and mutation. The model is applied into the discharge calculation and analysis of water surface curve for typical gate station and canal pool in Middle Route Project. In discharge calculation, the relation function between head difference, gate opening and flow coefficient can be found automatically with genetic programming. Similarly, the relation between downstream water depth, flow and upstream water depth can be achieved by the suggested model. It is shown that the proposed model based on genetic programing would be effective in nonlinear regression for hydraulic factors.

Optimal location for installing small hydropower plant on water supply pipelines

Determination of an optimal location for plant installation over water transmission lines leads not only to reduction in the cost of construction and energy transmission, but also to enhancement of hydrological conditions. The main objective of implementing a water supply pipelines project is not to generate power. Various economic and hydraulic attributes also play an important role during the selection of an optimal location for plant installation. Therefore, there is a need for utilising multi-attribute optimisation methods. The effective criteria include cost, maintenance and operation, and distances from both the consumption area and the main road. In this paper, six scenarios, based on the different maximum allowable pressures (in order of 10, 12·5, 15, 17·5 and 20 bar) and the current condition, were studied. The results indicated that the fourth scenario, with a maximum pressure of 17·5 bar (1750 kPa), should be regarded as the best choice for determining the optimal location. These results were in line with the ones obtained for cost analysis. Moreover, the leakage factor was mitigated by 24·1%. It is concluded that the methods of analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process are useful tools in outlining the proper location for installation of a hydropower plant on water transmission pipelines.

Design of a 1-MV induction cavity and validation of the two-dimensional circuit model

We present the design and test results of an induction cavity, which is a full-scale prototype cell of a prospective six-stage induction voltage adder. This induction cell runs in positive polarity and the output transmission line operates in the vacuum insulation state. The design methods and configurations of the azimuthal transmission line, insulation stack, magnetic core, cathode plate, and output transmission line in the induction cell are given in detail. The induction cavity is driven by one pulsed power system consisting of a tesla transformer, intermediate storage capacitor, laser triggered gas switch, pulse forming line, self-breaking oil switch, and a water transmission line. A maximum voltage about 1.05 MV could be achieved across one $7.0\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}$ water resistor load. A full circuit model including the primary energy storage section and pulse forming section is proposed. The circuit model also includes the two-dimensional circuit model of the induction cavity [Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams 20, 020401 (2017)]. The voltage and current waveforms across the feed port, azimuthal transmission line, insulation stack, and resistor load obtained during the experiment are compared with the circuit simulation results. It demonstrates that they can agree with each other very well.