Stormwater pipe deterioration

The Australian Infrastructure Report Card stated that stormwater pipe systems have a poor condition rating nationally, due to deterioration of pipes over time. Without proper management and monitoring of the deterioration process, whereby appropriate attention can be given to the rehabilitation of stormwater pipes systems, failures can have detrimental effects. There can also be major social disruptions associated with emotional disturbance, relocation, counselling and loss of important private and personal articles, and in some cases loss of human life.

In Australia, flooding events have become more frequent recently due to the aging of stormwater pipes and the subsequent loss of capacity. Flooding damage annually costs Australia $314 million. Hence, it is apparent that the need to understand the deterioration process of these stormwater pipes is increasingly required so that proactive management can be implemented to avoid unserviceability to community. Engineers that pursue an effective asset management strategy but have a limited budget require deterioration models that can mimic the deterioration in performance of stormwater pipes with time.

The main aim of this research project is to develop deterioration models for stormwater pipe systems using innovative and noise-insensitive artificial intelligence techniques (neural network and probabilistic neural network) in comparison with stochastic models using Markov chain and Ordered probit technique (or Discriminant analysis). In addition, the influential factors contributing to the deterioration process will be identified from the deterioration models. The outcomes of the models will assist asset managers in predicting the service life of stormwater pipes as well as establishment of proactive maintenance activities. The understanding of influential factors will allow the asset managers to spend their limited resources on improvement of working conditions associated with these factors for extending service life of stormwater pipes.

For more information contact:

Dr. Anne Ng
Interests: Stormwater deterioration, Artificial intelligence, optimisation, sustainable management of water resources
Ph: +61 3 9919 5507
Email: anne.ng@vu.edu.au

A/Prof Chris Perera
Ph: +61 3 9919 4729
Email: Chris.perera@vu.edu.au