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| NU researchers help cities better manage sewer systems Northeastern University professor Ferdi Hellweger and PhD student Indrani Ghosh are the co-authors of a paper titled 'Simulating Urban Hydrology Using Artificial Sewer Networks' that suggest a novel method for engineers and scientists to better understand how a city's sewer systems will react to various storms. In the paper, Hellweger and Ghosh develop algorithms to generate artificial sewer networks that can be used for hydrologic simulations in place of the actual network. This is of particular value in older, large cities where maps, if they exist, are often difficult to decipher because of age and/or inaccuracies, making it extremely time-consuming and sometimes impossible to identify each and every pipe. Simulated networks can also be used to predict how new, not-yet-built systems where there is no actual network, would react to various scenarios. The artificial networks were created using the Artificial Network Generator, ANGel, which uses the dendritic and space-filling 'Tokunaga' fractal tree geometry. Actual and artificial networks were used as input to the SWMM model and comparisons of the various sewer networks are based on the flood hydrograph and various other parameters. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Construction News :: home page |