Large-Scale Testing of Storm Water Geysers Caused by the Sudden Release of Air Pockets—Preliminary Research Findings

Recent investigation has led to the understanding that geyser formation can be caused by the uncontrolled release of air pockets that become entrapped in storm water systems. Such occurrences are deleterious in the public health point of view and may cause property and structural damage. Causes, frequency, magnitude, and location of geysering events are still poorly understood, and thus an experimental program has been initiated at Auburn University to study such episodes. A 302mm schedule 40 clear PVC apparatus has been constructed to study sudden release of entrapped air pockets leading to geysers. Various vertical shafts with diameters ranging from 50mm to 300mm and lengths up to 5.2m have been used. The idea of these tests is to assess strength, amplitude of water level changes, and other characteristics of these geysers. This work focuses on presenting characteristics of the apparatus, the methodology used in this large-scale testing, and preliminary results comparing the strength of geysers in cases with and without background flows in the horizontal conduits. These tests are expected to help in the development of geometries of ventilation structures in storm water systems that will avert geysering.