Underground Construction - May 2018 - 30

CIGMAT 2018
es posed by the area's Beaumont
clay formation and relatively
softer soil deposits.

Water, wastewater
issues
The third technical session was
moderated by Michael Lacy from
Houston-based KIT Professionals Inc., a civil/environmental
consulting engineering firm.
Jeff Haby, vice president of
the San Antonio Water System
(SAWS), shared results proving
the big difference being made
by the Sanitary Sewer Overflow
(SSO) reduction program the
city developed and implemented
in response to a Consent Decree
process. Since 2010, SAWS has
reduced SSOs by 60 percent.
Matthew Webb, hydrologist
from the Texas Water Development Board, talked about

the 2018 State Water Plan, and
about aquifer storage and recovery as an innovative water storage technology gaining traction
in Texas.
Aldo Ranzani, Austin Public
Works and Engineering Department, addressed the leaks, infiltration, low pressure, tuberculation and even collapse, plaguing
the aging pipeline networks.
Increasing the challenge is the
careful planning required when
repairing and replacing older pipe
that often runs under crowded,
well-developed and sometimes
historic neighborhoods.

Smart Cement for Gas
Leak Detection, Fluid
Flow Model
In the fourth technical session,
Vipulanandan presented results

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of smart cement for gas leak detection and the fluid flow model
he developed for gases and
liquids flowing through porous
media.
Smart cement composites with highly sensing chemo-thermo-piezoresistive properties, and enhanced physical
and mechanical properties,
have been developed and characterized to meet application
requirements of real-time monitoring. There is increasing concern about gas leaks (methane,
carbon dioxide) from various
storage facilities through natural rocks and artificially cemented wells representing different
types of porous media. Also oil
and gases are being extracted
from various types of rocks representing porous media.
Darcy's law, developed in
1856 for laminar flow of water
(incompressible fluid) through
sand representing a porous medium, clearly identified the hydraulic gradient as an important
parameter for the fluid flow. In
reality, gases and liquids flowing
through porous medium is a
complex process. That's because
bio-chemical reactions between
the fluid and porous medium,
applied and in-situ stresses, and
temperatures, affect not only
the porous medium properties,
but also the flowing fluid properties. Also, flow can be laminar, turbulent or transition,
and controlled by the diffusion
process.
Through experimental
study/tests performed in the
CIGMAT laboratory, Vipulanandan developed a three-parameter fluid flow model,
generalizing Darcy's law. The
result is the first model in 160
years that totally accounts for
flow patterns observed to predict all types of non-linear and
linear flows.

Additional
presentations
The luncheon speaker was Judge
Craig Doyal from Montgomery
County, (Conroe, Texas), one of
the fastest-growing counties in the
U.S. He discussed the importance
of coordination between local and
state authorities for successful
completion of projects in very limited time frame.
Wayne Klotz, past ASCE president and president and board
director of the Houston-area
Coastal Water Authority, delivered the 13th-annual Mike W.
O'Neill Lecture. Honoring the UH
civil engineering teacher for 29
years, former department chair,
and one of the world's leading
experts in deep-foundation engineering, the lecture is awarded
each year for outstanding contributions to the advancement of
the industry.
In "Professional Experiences and
Management of Critical Projects,"
Klotz shared lessons learned from
a career managing projects of all
sizes. Whether small or very large,
he said, project success requires
navigating change from multiple
sources -- technology, regulations,
expectations, personnel, market
factors, and/or personal goals and
opportunities. Even more, there's
something to learn from every
change, whether the outcome was
positive or negative.
Following the technical sessions,
attendees visited the exhibit area,
to view posters detailing various
research activities at CIGMAT and
the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. A number
of grouting, pipe manufacturer,
material suppliers, pipe condition
monitoring and wastewater rehabilitation companies also participated in the exhibition.
Conference proceedings will be
published on the CIGMAT web
site - cigmat.cive.uh.edu. CIGMAT 2019 is scheduled for March
1, 2019, at the University Hilton,
University of Houston campus.

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Underground Construction - May 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Underground Construction - May 2018