CIVIL RESEARCH GROUP SEMINAR
Wednesday 26th November 2014 4pm A401 – School of Engineering Modelling Mixing Mechanisms
Professor Ian Guymer, Professor of Civil Engineering
School of Engineering, University of Warwick
ABSTRACT Conveyance networks are common in many aspects of civil engineering hydraulics, e.g. rivers, urban drainage and water distribution systems. Whilst discharge capacity is a major factor in design, there is an increasing need to predict the mixing and transport of soluble material. The transport of pollutants impacts on the natural environment, human health risks from sewer overflows and contamination of drinking water supplies. In most commercial software tools, these networks are described using 1D numerical models, typically employing advection‐dispersion equations to describe the mixing processes. This presentation will outline limitations in currently employed 1D mixing models and suggest improvements based on flow field descriptions and laboratory observations. An overview of some recent research projects will also be provided.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER Ian Guymer graduated from Loughborough University of Technology, in 1981 in Civil Engineering. This was followed by a PhD degree, awarded from the University of Birmingham in 1985, on aspects of solute mixing processes in well‐mixed estuaries. His first academic appointment was at Heriot‐Watt University, Edinburgh, followed by an appointment to the lecturing staff within the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering at the University of Sheffield in 1990. In January 2005, he was appointed Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Warwick. A Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, his research interests are centred on identifying and quantifying the transport and mixing processes related to solutes and fine suspended sediments within civil engineering hydraulics. This is achieved by undertaking laboratory and field studies into mixing processes and developing simplified modelling procedures for engineering applications. Research projects have been concerned with mixing processes in urban drainage and treatment systems, looking at specific components, such as manholes and combined sewer overflow structures, wetlands and ponds, river systems, quantifying dispersion effects due to topographic variations, estuarine studies and coastal mixing processes. These topics are particularly important for modelling water quality processes. He has been funded to undertake research studies on both former UK national hydraulic facilities, the Flood Channel and the Coastal Research Facility and major European research laboratory facilities at DHI and Delft. In recent years, fundamental research has been funded by EPSRC, NERC, and the EU, with applied research funded by Unilever, Water utilities, the Environment Agency, Defra and the Highways Agency.
This seminar is open to all and refreshments are provided. For more information, contact Dr Stefano Utili by email at s.utili@warwick.ac.uk