Researchers will use DOE grant to help update aging natural gas infrastructure
A multi-institutional team that includes three 麻豆免费版下载 civil engineering researchers has been awarded $5.4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to help enhance the performance and longevity of natural gas distribution systems.
Led by Assistant Research Professor Brad Wham, the team will use the award from the DOE鈥檚 Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to develop a new testing and modeling framework to allow the gas industry to better evaluate the products it uses to rehabilitate aging cast iron and steel natural gas pipelines.
The award is part of ARPA-E鈥檚 Rapid Encapsulation of Pipelines Avoiding Intensive Replacement (REPAIR) program. REPAIR aims to develop technologies to reduce natural gas leaks from legacy and outdated natural gas pipes by creating a suite of technologies to enable the automated construction of new pipe inside existing pipe.
鈥淥ur objective is to validate a 50-year design life for innovative pipe-in-pipe systems by developing numerical, analytical and physical testing protocols,鈥 said Wham, who serves as managing director of the Center for Infrastructure, Energy and Space Testing (CIEST) facilities at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder.
His partners on the project will be center co-directors Mija Hubler and Shideh Dashti, as well as researchers from Cornell University, the University of Southern Queensland and the Gas Technology Institute.
Wham added that the project will focus on pinpointing when pipes are likely to fail and establishing performance criteria for replacement pipes.
鈥淐IEST is perfectly positioned to take on this kind of critical infrastructure research,鈥 Wham said. 鈥淲e not only have the facilities and faculty expertise for large-scale structural and materials testing, but also the industry experience necessary to provide relevant, real-world recommendations that can be rapidly accepted into practice.鈥