Title: Truck Impact on Buried Water Pipes in Interdependent Water and Road Infrastructures
In the development of sustainable and resilient infrastructures to adapt to the rapidly changing natural and social environment, the complexity of the dependencies and interdependencies within critical infrastructure systems need to be fully understood, as they affect various components of risk and lead to cascading failures. Water and road infrastructures are highly co-located but often managed and maintained separately. One important aspect of their interdependence is the impact of vehicle loading on a road on underlying water pipes. The existing studies lack a comprehensive evaluation of this subject and do not consider possible critical failure scenarios. This study constructed finite element models to analyze the responses of buried water pipes to vehicle loads under an array of scenarios, including various loads, pipe materials, pipe dimensions, and possible extreme conditions, such as corrosion in pipes and a sinkhole under the pipe. The results showed negligible impact of heavy trucks on buried water pipes. The pipe deflection under a maximum allowable truck load in the worst condition was still within the allowable range specified in standards such as those from the American Water Works Association. This implies that the impact of heavy vehicles on water pipes may not need to be considered in the context of the interdependency between water and road infrastructures, which leads to a more unidirectional dependency between these two infrastructures. more »« less
Kimbell, Lee K.; LaMartina, Emily Lou; Kappell, Anthony D.; Huo, Jingwan; Wang, Yin; Newton, Ryan J.; McNamara, Patrick J.(
, Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology)
null
(Ed.)
Antimicrobial resistance is a well-documented public health concern. The role that drinking water distribution pipes have as sources of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) is not well known. Metals are a known stressor for antibiotic resistance development, implying that aging metal-pipe infrastructure could be a source of ARGs. The objective of this study was to determine if ARGs, metal resistance genes (MRGs), and intI 1 were pervasive across various pipe biofilm sample types (biomass surfaces, pipe surfaces, corrosion tubercles, and under corrosion tubercles) and if the resistance genes associated with particular microbial taxa. Eight sample types in triplicate ( n = 24) were taken from inside a >100 year-old, six ft. section of a full-scale chloraminated cast iron drinking water main. Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) was employed as a novel approach to quantify ARGs in pipes from full-scale drinking water distribution systems (DWDS) because it yielded higher detection frequencies than quantitative PCR (qPCR). Illumina sequencing was employed to characterize the microbial community based on 16S rRNA genes. ARGs and MRGs were detected in all 24 pipe samples. Every sample contained targeted genes. Interestingly, the mean absolute abundances of ARGs and MRGs only varied by approximately one log value across sample types, but the mean relative abundances (copy numbers normalized to 16S rRNA genes) varied by over two log values. The ARG and MRGs concentrations were not significantly different between sample types, despite significant changes in dominant microbial taxa. The most abundant genera observed in the biofilm communities were Mycobacterium (0.2–70%), and β-lactam resistance genes bla TEM , bla SHV , and the integrase gene of class 1 integrons ( intI 1) were positively correlated with Mycobacterium . The detection of ARGs, MRGs, and class 1 integrons across all sample types within the pipe indicates that pipes themselves can serve as sources for ARGs in DWDS. Consequently, future work should investigate the role of pipe materials as well as corrosion inhibitors to determine how engineering decisions can mitigate ARGs in drinking water that stem from pipe materials.
Hale, R(
, Journal of micromechanics and microengineering)
The heat transport capacity of traditional heat pipes is limited by the capillary pressure generated in the internal wick that pumps condensate to the evaporator. Recently, the authors conceptualized a novel heat pipe architecture, wherein wick-based pumping is replaced by electrowetting (EW)-based pumping of microliter droplets in the adiabatic section. An electrowetting heat pipe (EHP) can overcome the capillary limit to heat transport capacity and enable compact, planar, gravity-insensitive, and ultralow power consumption heat pipes that transport kiloWatt heat loads over extended distances. This work develops a novel technique for rapid, scalable fabrication of EW-based devices and studies critical microfluidic operations underlying the EHP, with the objective of predicting the key performance parameters of the EHP. Devices are fabricated on a printed circuit board (PCB) substrate with mechanically-milled electrodes, and a removable polyimide dielectric film. The first set of experiments uncovers the maximum channel gap (1 mm) for reliable EW-based pumping; this parameter determines the heat transport capacity of the EHP, which scales linearly with the channel gap. The second set of experiments uncovers the maximum channel gap (375 microns) at which EW voltages can successfully split droplets. This is an important consideration which ensures EHP operability in the event of unintentional droplet merging. The third set of experiments demonstrate and study EW-induced droplet generation from an open-to-air reservoir, which mimics the interface between the condenser and adiabatic sections of the EHP. The experimental findings predict that planar, water-based EHPs with a (10 cm by 4 mm) cross section can transport 1.6 kW over extended distances (>1 m), with a thermal resistance of 0.01 K W−1.
Failures within water distribution systems are usually not isolated and tend to propagate to corresponding transportation infrastructure, yet most criticality and resilience analyses of water distribution networks are conducted for the individual water infrastructure without accounting for interdependence. To address this research gap, this study investigates how the critical components identified within water distribution systems may be different when accounting for failure propagation to the transportation road network. In this study, failure propagation is assumed to be based on geospatial interdependence and unidirectional, starting from water distribution network components to transportation network components. A logical interaction network is constructed considering the interdependence between both infrastructures, and multiobjective optimization is used to solve for the critical water distribution components considering: quantity of failures, performance loss, and financial costs. This work presents a modular workflow for water distribution criticality analysis and proposes the Kolmogorov‐Smirnov distance statistic between solution sets as a measure of the significance of interdependency for decision making. Results from the case study suggest that as the magnitude of water infrastructure failure increases beyond a threshold, the interdependency between water distribution and transportation becomes more significant. The difference between identified critical components using only information from water distribution and using both water distribution and transportation is significantly different (with greater than 95% confidence) for the city of Tampa, when more than 40 components fail (are isolated). These results will assist utilities in asset management and strategy assessment, by helping prioritize component repair and better allocate resources for critical interdependent infrastructures.
de Oliveira Faria, Nayara; Kandil, Dina; Gabbard, Joseph L.(
, Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting)
Background: Drivers gather most of the information they need to drive by looking at the world around them and at visual displays within the vehicle. Navigation systems automate the way drivers navigate. In using these systems, drivers offload both tactical (route following) and strategic aspects (route planning) of navigational tasks to the automated SatNav system, freeing up cognitive and attentional resources that can be used in other tasks (Burnett, 2009). Despite the potential benefits and opportunities that navigation systems provide, their use can also be problematic. For example, research suggests that drivers using SatNav do not develop as much environmental spatial knowledge as drivers using paper maps (Waters & Winter, 2011; Parush, Ahuvia, & Erev, 2007). With recent growth and advances of augmented reality (AR) head-up displays (HUDs), there are new opportunities to display navigation information directly within a driver’s forward field of view, allowing them to gather information needed to navigate without looking away from the road. While the technology is promising, the nuances of interface design and its impacts on drivers must be further understood before AR can be widely and safely incorporated into vehicles. Specifically, an impact that warrants investigation is the role of AR HUDS in spatial knowledge acquisition while driving. Acquiring high levels of spatial knowledge is crucial for navigation tasks because individuals who have greater levels of spatial knowledge acquisition are more capable of navigating based on their own internal knowledge (Bolton, Burnett, & Large, 2015). Moreover, the ability to develop an accurate and comprehensive cognitive map acts as a social function in which individuals are able to navigate for others, provide verbal directions and sketch direction maps (Hill, 1987). Given these points, the relationship between spatial knowledge acquisition and novel technologies such as AR HUDs in driving is a relevant topic for investigation. Objectives: This work explored whether providing conformal AR navigational cues improves spatial knowledge acquisition (as compared to traditional HUD visual cues) to assess the plausibility and justification for investment in generating larger FOV AR HUDs with potentially multiple focal planes. Methods: This study employed a 2x2 between-subjects design in which twenty-four participants were counterbalanced by gender. We used a fixed base, medium fidelity driving simulator for where participants drove while navigating with one of two possible HUD interface designs: a world-relative arrow post sign and a screen-relative traditional arrow. During the 10-15 minute drive, participants drove the route and were encouraged to verbally share feedback as they proceeded. After the drive, participants completed a NASA-TLX questionnaire to record their perceived workload. We measured spatial knowledge at two levels: landmark and route knowledge. Landmark knowledge was assessed using an iconic recognition task, while route knowledge was assessed using a scene ordering task. After completion of the study, individuals signed a post-trial consent form and were compensated $10 for their time. Results: NASA-TLX performance subscale ratings revealed that participants felt that they performed better during the world-relative condition but at a higher rate of perceived workload. However, in terms of perceived workload, results suggest there is no significant difference between interface design conditions. Landmark knowledge results suggest that the mean number of remembered scenes among both conditions is statistically similar, indicating participants using both interface designs remembered the same proportion of on-route scenes. Deviance analysis show that only maneuver direction had an influence on landmark knowledge testing performance. Route knowledge results suggest that the proportion of scenes on-route which were correctly sequenced by participants is similar under both conditions. Finally, participants exhibited poorer performance in the route knowledge task as compared to landmark knowledge task (independent of HUD interface design). Conclusions: This study described a driving simulator study which evaluated the head-up provision of two types of AR navigation interface designs. The world-relative condition placed an artificial post sign at the corner of an approaching intersection containing a real landmark. The screen-relative condition displayed turn directions using a screen-fixed traditional arrow located directly ahead of the participant on the right or left side on the HUD. Overall results of this initial study provide evidence that the use of both screen-relative and world-relative AR head-up display interfaces have similar impact on spatial knowledge acquisition and perceived workload while driving. These results contrast a common perspective in the AR community that conformal, world-relative graphics are inherently more effective. This study instead suggests that simple, screen-fixed designs may indeed be effective in certain contexts.
Soft‐sediment deformation of contorted and massive sandstone is common throughout much of the siliciclastic record, but clastic pipes represent a distinctive class of pressurized synsedimentary features. Remarkable centimetre to metre‐scale clastic pipe exposures in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone of Utah (USA) establish a range of pipe sizes, expressions and relationships to the host rock in an erg margin setting, traditionally thought to be just a dry desert system. In particular, the field and laboratory characterizations of cylindrical pipes show internal concentric, annular rings that imply water fluidization, with alignment of long grain axes due to shear flow along pipe margins. Central interior parts of decimetre‐scale pipes appear massive in plan view, but display weakly developed pseudobedding from post‐pressure release, gravitational settling in the cross‐sectional view. Deformation features of conjugate fractures, ring faults, hypotrochoid patterns (geometric arcs and circles) and breccia in the host material reflect both brittle and ductile behaviour in response to the fluidization and injection of the clastic pipes. The stratigraphic context of individual pipes and the stratabound intervals of pipe features imply dynamic deformation nearly coincident with deposition in this Early Jurassic aeolian system related to multiple factors of groundwater expulsion, timing and local host sediment properties that influenced pipe development. Although the pipe features might be easily overlooked as a smaller scale feature of soft‐sediment deformation in dune deposits, these are valuable environmental indications of disrupted fluid pathways within porous, reservoir quality sands, associated with possible combinations of periodic springs, high water‐table conditions and strong ground‐motion events. These pipe examples may be important analogues where exposures are not so clear, with applications to diverse modern and ancient clastic settings internationally on Earth as well as in planetary explorations such as on Mars.
Uddin, Shihab, Lu, Qing, and Nguyen, Hung. Truck Impact on Buried Water Pipes in Interdependent Water and Road Infrastructures. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10354626. Sustainability 13.20 Web. doi:10.3390/su132011288.
Uddin, Shihab, Lu, Qing, & Nguyen, Hung. Truck Impact on Buried Water Pipes in Interdependent Water and Road Infrastructures. Sustainability, 13 (20). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10354626. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132011288
@article{osti_10354626,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {Truck Impact on Buried Water Pipes in Interdependent Water and Road Infrastructures},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10354626},
DOI = {10.3390/su132011288},
abstractNote = {In the development of sustainable and resilient infrastructures to adapt to the rapidly changing natural and social environment, the complexity of the dependencies and interdependencies within critical infrastructure systems need to be fully understood, as they affect various components of risk and lead to cascading failures. Water and road infrastructures are highly co-located but often managed and maintained separately. One important aspect of their interdependence is the impact of vehicle loading on a road on underlying water pipes. The existing studies lack a comprehensive evaluation of this subject and do not consider possible critical failure scenarios. This study constructed finite element models to analyze the responses of buried water pipes to vehicle loads under an array of scenarios, including various loads, pipe materials, pipe dimensions, and possible extreme conditions, such as corrosion in pipes and a sinkhole under the pipe. The results showed negligible impact of heavy trucks on buried water pipes. The pipe deflection under a maximum allowable truck load in the worst condition was still within the allowable range specified in standards such as those from the American Water Works Association. This implies that the impact of heavy vehicles on water pipes may not need to be considered in the context of the interdependency between water and road infrastructures, which leads to a more unidirectional dependency between these two infrastructures.},
journal = {Sustainability},
volume = {13},
number = {20},
author = {Uddin, Shihab and Lu, Qing and Nguyen, Hung},
}
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