Effect of Pump Operation on Headspace Air Pressure Variation in Sanitary Sewer Systems
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 3
Abstract
Modeling air flow movement in the headspace of sanitary sewers is important for municipalities for sewer corrosion control and odor mitigation. This paper presents the results of field-measured air pressure and variations affected by the operation of pump stations in a prototype sanitary sewer system. A total of five locations near four pump stations were monitored along a trunk sewer. It was found that the air pressure in the vicinity of the pump stations showed an oscillation pattern in response to the pumping cycles. This is mainly due to the change in the headspace air volume resulting in air pressure fluctuations. A simple model is proposed to estimate the magnitude of the pressure fluctuation. Pump operations also have a direct impact on the level downstream of the discharge manhole with relatively long forcemains.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request (field measurement data).
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, EPCOR, and Sameng Inc. Ms. Kate Polkovsky of the City of St. Albert, and Dr. Jerry Yang of the Alberta Capital Region Wastewater Commission have kindly provided the engineering drawings and pump operation data. The authors would also like to thank Mr. Brandon Rivet for his assistance on the fieldwork.
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 3 • March 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 17, 2020
Accepted: Oct 23, 2020
Published online: Jan 7, 2021
Published in print: Mar 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jun 7, 2021
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