Department of Engineering
This is a four-year (1+3 MRes/PhD) studentship funded through the Cambridge EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment: Unlocking Net Zero (FIBE3 CDT). Further details can be found at https://www.net-zero-fibe-cdt.eng.cam.ac.uk/.
The project is funded in collaboration with Ward & Burke, a leading engineering firm specialising in the design, manufacture, supply, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of water and wastewater infrastructure within Ireland and the UK.
Currently, there are no global scale views or quantitative performance metrics for hydraulic models to design sewage network upgrades. In order to reduce combined sewer overflows, tools are needed to optimise the interventions and compare different sites and models.
Presently, the outputs of each model are dependent on the modellers and assumptions they make, the model setup, and the "fudge factors" used. We do not yet have clarity about how these dependencies interact, especially as a third party, making it impossible to make informed decisions. This leads to scheme designs based on the model outputs without fully comprehending the quality of these outputs, whether they have been optimised sufficiently, or whether other options may be available.