AIP Publishing LLC
AIP Publishing LLC
  • pubs.aip.org
  • AIP
  • AIP China
  • University Science Books
  • Resources
    • Researchers
    • Librarians
    • Publishing Partners
    • Topical Portfolios
    • Commercial Partners
  • Publications

    Find the Right Journal

    Explore the AIP Publishing collection by title, topic, impact, citations, and more.
    Browse Journals

    Latest Content

    Read about the newest discoveries and developments in the physical sciences.
    See What's New

    Publications

    • Journals
    • Books
    • Physics Today
    • AIP Conference Proceedings
    • Scilight
    • Find the Right Journal
    • Latest Content
  • About
    • About Us
    • News and Announcements
    • Careers
    • Events
    • Leadership
    • Contact
  • pubs.aip.org
  • AIP
  • AIP China
  • University Science Books

Stopping Storms from Creating Dangerous Urban Geysers

  • April 11, 2023
  • Physics of Fluids
  • News
Share:

From the Journal: Physics of Fluids

Caption: Simulation of a storm geyser life cycle. Credit: Li et al.
Caption: Simulation of a storm geyser life cycle. Credit: Li et al.

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2023 – During intense rainstorms, residents of urban areas rely on stormwater sewers to keep streets and homes from flooding. But in some cases, air pockets in sewers combine with fast-moving water to produce waterspouts that can reach dozens of feet high and last for several minutes. These so-called storm geysers can flood the surrounding area, cause damage to nearby structures, injure bystanders, and compromise drainage pipes.

In Physics of Fluids, by AIP Publishing, researchers from Sichuan University, Ningbo University, University of Alberta, and Hohai University developed a computational model of stormwater piping to study storm geysers. They used this model to understand why storm geysers form, what conditions tend to make them worse, and what city planners can do to prevent them from occurring.

Perhaps the biggest cause of storm geysers is poor city planning. With extreme weather events becoming more common due to climate change, cities can often find themselves unprepared for massive amounts of rain. Growing cities are especially vulnerable. Small cities have small drainage pipes, but new streets and neighborhoods result in added runoff, and those small pipes may not be able to handle the increased volume.

“This can lead to pressurized flow and the potential for air pockets to become entrapped and transported through the pipeline,” said author Jianmin Zhang, of Sichuan University. “These air pockets can ultimately be discharged through maintenance holes, resulting in storm geysers.”

The authors say the best cure for a storm geyser is bigger pipes.

“The most effective preventive measure for newly planned drainage pipelines is to increase the pipeline diameter and improve system design, which reduces the likelihood of full-flow conditions and eliminates storm geysers,” said Zhang.

However, that advice is little help to cities with existing pipeline infrastructure. In these systems, the focus must be on minimizing the potential damage by reducing the height of the geysers, the volume of expelled water, or the resulting damage to the pipeline.

“Scholars have proposed prevention measures such as increasing the maintenance hole diameter, using expansion segments in maintenance holes, installing orifice plates, and adding structures to allow air release while preventing the outflow of water,” said Zhang. “However, these measures often cannot achieve all of the aforementioned objectives simultaneously.”

While their model provides substantial guidance to city planners, the team hopes to expand their work to evaluate a range of prevention measures and identify the best overall solutions.

“We plan to systematically evaluate existing prevention measures that have received significant attention from scholars, analyze their advantages and disadvantages, and propose a comprehensive measure that achieves optimal results,” said Zhang. “Our ultimate goal is to apply this comprehensive approach in practical engineering applications to eliminate storm geysers.”

###

Article Title

Modeling geysers triggered by an air pocket migrating with running water in a pipeline

Authors

Xin Li, Jianmin Zhang, David Z. Zhu, and Shangtuo Qian

Author Affiliations

Sichuan University, Ningbo University, University of Alberta, and Hohai University


Physics of Fluids

Physics of Fluids is devoted to the publication of original theoretical, computational, and experimental contributions to the dynamics of gases, liquids, and complex or multiphase fluids.

http://pof.aip.org

Share:
  • The Roly-Poly Gold Rush
  • Composition of Joint Lubricant Potential Culprit Behind Osteoarthritis

Keep Up With AIP Publishing

Sign up for the AIP newsletter to receive the latest news and information from AIP Publishing.
Sign Up

AIP PUBLISHING

1305 Walt Whitman Road,
Suite 110
Melville, NY 11747
(516) 576-2200

Resources

  • Researchers
  • Librarians
  • Publishing Partners
  • Commercial Partners

About

  • About Us
  • Careers 
  • Leadership

Support

  • Contact Us
  • Terms Of Use
  • Privacy Policy

© 2025 AIP Publishing LLC