The low carbon smart pipes project contributed to construction sector decarbonisation.

Experts at the University of Birmingham’s School of Engineering worked with Aquaspira on the development of the sensing technology and the pipes were tested at the University of Birmingham and the National Buried Infrastructure Facility.

Testing comprised of two stages – above ground deformation tests (see below) and below ground deformation tests. The pipe was instrumented with a range of optical fibre strain sensors, classical strain sensors and Linear Variable Differential Transducer.

The below ground experiment also had additional soil sensors to better understand the loading on the pipe. We have already demonstrated the benefit of the collaboration winning the Pipeline Industries Guild (PIG) iICE Award (Inspiring Innovation, Cost-Saving and Efficiency). The award, presented biannually is for the best idea for increasing efficiency and reducing costs in the pipeline industry.

The benefit of our collaboration is also clearly expressed in the video below:

Working with Aquaspira on low carbon smart pipes

Experts at the University of Birmingham’s School of Engineering collaborated with Aquaspira on the development of the sensing technology; the pipes were tested at the University of Birmingham and the National Buried Infrastructure Facility.

Low carbon smart pipes

Transcript

The National Buried Infrastructure Facility is central to the research that we're doing at AquaSpira with the University of Birmingham. The work that we're doing helps develop and improve the mechanical properties of our product, our AquaSpira pipe, and how it interacts with the ground and elements of insulation. The actual testing that we are completing helps us inform some of the standards that are out there at the moment because the standards, as written, are very basic. They use hand calculations to work out how the pipes react to loads being transferred onto them. When you start looking at different manufactured products and different fabrications, those simple hand calculations cannot be used to interpret how the product is going to actin the ground. So therefore, the work that we're doing informs a digital twin, so it informs a digital data input, which allows us to do finite element modelling to actually evaluate those more complex installations using our product in the ground.

We're also, within that, looking at the embedment of optical fibres within the pipe and the information that they can give us about the performance of the pipe. The facility enables us to see precisely how the pipe performs in the ground. And within that, it will inform both our design and the way the pipe is used and the way that the pipe can facilitate the reduction in carbon in the construction process.