| A large proportion of water and wastewater systems have traditionally been analyzed and designed without the consideration of the nature, risk, and potential consequence of hydraulic transients. Recent advancements in numerical hydraulic modeling have spawned a specialty hydraulic field based on numerical transient analysis. The current practice within this field often lacks physical understanding and can be misguided by both the current knowledge, technology based limitations, and by the sole reliance on numerical models. This thesis aims to provide insights into some of the shortcomings of current practice and to develop the importance and application of field data based confirmations. The thesis examines the advances in the current field oriented technology for recording transient pressures, and provides examples and insights on how this data can be used both in conjunction with numerical modeling and on its own as a first step to a proposed frequency based transient risk assessment methodology. The thesis establishes definitions and a preliminary methodology for a Transient Risk Index. |
