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CURRENT RESEARCH

☢ Floating Hybrid Ocean Renewable Energy (ORE) Hub --- FloSWACH

      (HK PolyU RISUD JRF Project no. 1-BBWT)

This research content is a proposed joint research project aiming to investigate the multiple OREs (wave, solar, wind and tidal energies in integrated floating platform):
(1) Feasibility & potentials of integrating multi-OREs through the FloSWACH development;
(2) Stability & survivability of the FloSWACH platform in the complex environment;
(3) Efficiency & sustainability of the renewable energy generation by the FloSWACH;

(4) Validation & application of the FloSWACH platform with CFD & preliminary experiments.

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WaveWaterQuality.png

(Source: Deng & Duan, et al. 2021)

♕ Coastal Waves Modelling, Hydro-energy Development and Water Quality Assessment 

       (Projects no. 1-BD86 & no. 1-ZVR5, Funded by the PolyU & Others)

This aspect of research mainly aims to explore the wave mechanism and energy potential & capacity, as well as the water quality management in coastal area, particularly in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), including objectives:
(1) Construct the effective 3D hydrodynamic models for coastal and ocean area in the GBA;
(2) Understand coastal waves behaviors and their influences to coastal infrastructures such as breakwaters, artificial islands and cross-sea bridges; 
(3) Analyze the potentials and capacity of wave/tide energy in the GBA and its future implementation;

(4) Develop the AI-based methodology for coastal water quality assessment and hydro-environment management.

☢ Research on Coastal Flooding and Urban Flash Floods under Climate Change and Urbaninzation

   (RGC Project no. C5002-22Y, & NSFC-RGC no. N_PolyU599/22)

This research content is a proposed collaborative research scheme, aiming to:
(1) Characterizing and forecasting hydro-meteorological extremes in Hong Kong;
(2) Modelling and investigating urban stormwater and coastal drainage systems with a hybrid model;
(3) Analyzing and understanding the mechanics and process of coastal flooding and urban flash flood events based on big data analytics and pattern recognition;

(4) Evaluating the risk and enhancing the resilience of coastal urban flooding in Hong Kong and other coastal cities (e.g., GBA China).

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Typical UWSS.png

⦿ Characterization and Diagnosis of Pipe Anomalies

       (RGC Projects no. 15200719 & no. 15201523)

This is a fundamental research funded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), which aims to:

(1) Characterizing and separating the transient responses of different pipe anomalies, including leakage, blockage, unknown branch and pipe wall deformation;

(2) Developing holistic transient-based method for the detection of multiple and different pipe anomalies in urban water supply systems (UWSSs);

(3) Validating and applying the developed method in UWSS under various system and flow conditions.

☸ Smart Urban Water Supply Systems (Smart UWSS)

      (RGC Theme-Based Research Scheme Project no. T21-602/15R)

Theme-based research scheme (TBRS) project sponsored by the Hong Kong RGC (with HK$33.225 million, 5 years). This is a joint research project by HKUST (leading), PolyU, CUHK, and other overseas universities. The project is proposed under the background that the Hong Kong UWSS leak water at an annual cost of more than HK$1 billion. This funded project aims to develop the next generation of UWSS—Smart UWSS—that are better built, instrumented, operated and managed, and where leaks and potential system failures can be reliably and timely diagnosed; and to support the Hong Kong’s “WIN” vision (Water Intelligent Network).

（Source: TBRS Project)

(Project website: http://smartuws.ust.hk)

❃ Sustainable Urban Water Drainage Systems (SUWDS)

      (Joint Universities Research Projects no. SKHL1417 & no. 1-ZVGF)

A theoretical framework and analysis methodology is developed for the multi-objective optimization and sustainable management of unban stormwater drainage systems (USDS), with aiming to: (1) control flood risks; (2) reduce damages; (3) optimize rehabilitation & planning schemes; (4) improve water quality; (5) achieve urban low impact development (LID); and (6) interpret system uncertainties. This is involved in a joint research project with Sichuan University (State Key Lab Open Funding) and also the collaborative research work with Tongji University in Shanghai, China.

(Source: Li & Duan, et al. 2015)

☀ Multi-Phase Fluid Modeling and Simulation

      (RGC Projects no. 25200616 & no. 15202122)

This is a fundamental research project funded by the Hong Kong RGC, which deals with:
(1) Understanding the formation mechanism and evolution physics of transient air-water flow interactions in drainage conduits & viscoelastic supply pipeline;
(2) Developing appropriate models (1D/2D/3D) and experiments that are suitable for the analysis of transient air-water flows in free-surface and pressurized pipelines;
(3) Providing insights for the theory development of transient air-water two-phase flows as well as the engineering design and risk management of urban water drainage & supply systems.

 

Transient Air-Water Test System, Hydraulics Lab, PolyU

(Source: Huang & Duan, et al. 2017)

☫ Transient Pipe Flow Modeling and Applications

      (RGC Project no. 15201017, and Projects Funded by the PolyU)

These are continuous fundamental researches and practical project conducted continuously by the research group, which are funded by Hong Kong RGC and the PolyU, with aims to:
(1) Developing and improving waterhammer models for complex water pipe systems, such as viscoelastic pipes, transient turbulence (unsteady friction) & stochastic demand;
(2) Applying and extending the developed models and methods to urban water distribution systems, so as to achieve efficient and accurate analysis of transient pipe flows for practical system design and management; 
(3) Exploring and utilizing transient-based methods for the identification and detection of pipe defects in complex pipe systems such as leakage and blockage.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

(The Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) (http://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/rgc) is the Government Funding Agent of Hong Kong , which is similar to the NSF in USA and the NSFC in China. Research funds from RGC are highly competitive.)

​

(1) As Capacity of Principal Investigator (PI/PC):

  • “Hydraulic transients in water supply pipelines: high frequency wave behaviors”, Hong Kong RGC-GRF Project (no. 15201523), HK$1,132,781 2024~2026.

  • “Coastal Urban Flooding under Climate Change: Evolution Mechanisms and Intelligent Analysis”, RGC-CRF YCRG Project (no. C5002-22Y), HK$4,133,507, 2023~2026.

  • “Multipurpose Microfluidics and Imaging System”, Large Equipment Fund for Research, HK PolyU, HK$2,730,000, 2023~2024.

  • “Feasibility Study of Hybrid Floating Solar-Wave Converter Hub (FloSWACH) Towards Sustainable Energy Development and its Applications in Hong Kong”, Joint Research Fund (JRF), RISUD, HK PolyU, 2023~2026.

  • “Investigation of Rainstorm - Storm Surge Joint Occurrence Pattern and Induced Flooding Risk Assessment in Coastal Cities within the Greater Bay Area (GBA)”, NSFC-RGC JRS Project (no. N_PolyU599/22), HK$1,244,750 from RGC + RMB 1,000,000 from NSFC, 2023~2026.

  • “Transient air-water flows and wave-fluid interactions in viscoelastic pipelines in water supply system”, Hong Kong RGC-GRF Project (no. 15202122), HK$1,115,452 2023~2025.

  • “Hydrologic response to hydro-meteorological extremes and land use changes in mountainous catchments in Hong Kong: an integrated approach coupling observed data and hydrological model”, Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering (Sichuan University), 2022~2024.

  • “Research on urban flash floods under smart city development and climate change”, FCE Projects of Strategic Importance Stage-1 Seed Funding for RGC-CRF Application, FCE, HK PolyU, H2021~2022.

  • “Development of a holistic transient-based method for characterizing and diagnosing different pipe anomalies in urban water supply pipeline systems”, Hong Kong RGC-GRF Project (no. 15200719), HK$748,300, 2020~2023.

  • “On the transient flow behaviors in viscoelastic pipelines in urban water supply systems”, Hong Kong RGC-GRF Project (no. 15201017), HK$582,000, 2018~2021.

  • “Investigation of transient water-air flows in stormwater drainage pipelines”, Hong Kong RGC-GRF/ECS Project (no. 25200616), HK$618,470, 2017~2020.

  • “Pipeline condition assessment (leakage/blockage) in complex water pipeline systems”, Sub-project of RGC Theme-Based Research Scheme (TBRS) – “Smart Urban Water Supply Systems (Smart UWSS)”, RGC-TRS  Project (no. T21-602/15R, in total HK$ 33.225 million for 5 years), 2016~2020.

  • “Developing sustainable urban water infrastructure system for effective utilization of water resources”, Incentive Research Fund (IRF) for Joint Research Project with Potential Member of Asian Universities Cluster - Centre of Excellence in Civil Engineering (CE2), 2016~2018.

  • “Transient-based partial blockage detection in branched pipe systems”, Directly Allocated General Research Funds, HK PolyU, 2014~2019.

  • “Stochastic modeling and analysis of unsteady open channel flows for complex mountain river networks”, Collaborative Research Project, HK PolyU & Sichuan University, 2015~2017.

  • “On the influence of pipe blockages on the transient waves in complex pipe systems”, Directly Allocated Research Funds, HK PolyU, 2015~2016.

  • “Characterizing heavy metals release and stability in urban water distribution systems”, Directly Allocated Research Funds, HK PolyU, 2014~2015.

 

(2) As Capacity of Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI) or Co-Investigator (Co-I) or Participant:​

  • “INTACT: Intelligent Tropical-storm-resilient System for Coastal Cities”, RGC-TRS project (no. T22-501/23-R, as Co-PI), HK$ 48.293 million, 2024~2028.

  • “Hong Kong Coastal HF-Radar Network”, RGC-CRF (Equipment) (no. C5032-22EF, as Co-PI), HK$ 8,000,000 from RGC + HK$ 8,000,000 from PolyU, 2023~2026.

  • “Multi-scale investigation of bioclogging in porous media: from 3D printing aided microscale experiments to large scale numerical modelling”, Collaborative Research with World-leading Research, PolyU (as Co-PI), HK$2,000,000, 2023~2026.

  • “Carbon-friendly Pneumatic Flow Mixing (PFM) to Rapidly Recycle Waste Mud for Land Reclamation in Hong Kong”, Green Tech Fund (GTF), Project no. GTF202110116, HK$4.9million, (as Co-PI, HK$ 1.6million) 2023~2026.

  • “Wave-current-structure interaction in coastal and ocean areas: numerical modelling and applications within the GBA”, Internal Project, HK$250,000, 2021~2023. (PI: Dr. A Keramat)

  • “Transformative tropical storm risk mitigation of high-rise building clusters in coastal cities through understanding urban aerodynamics mechanism”, FCE Projects of Strategic Importance Stage-2 Seed Funding for RGC-TRS Application (Full Proposal), FCE, HK PolyU, HK$200,000, 2021~2025. (PC: Prof. YQ Ni)

  • "Smart Utilities -- Development of a Strategic Focus Area (SFA) in Utility System Research", SFA Research Scheme, RISUD, HK PolyU, 2018~2020. (HK$ 2.5 million, Led by Prof. Xiaoli Ding, LSGI, HK PolyU)

  • "Very Large Floating Structures -- High-Performance Materials and Structural Elements for Sustainable Floating Structures", SFA Research Scheme, RISUD, HK PolyU, 2018~2020. (HK$ 2.5 million, Led by Prof. J.G. Teng, CEE, HK PolyU)

  • “On detection of multiple leaks in water distribution pipelines,” Hong Kong RGC Project, 2014~2017.

  • “On blockage detection in pressurized pipelines,” Hong Kong RGC Project, 2013~2016.

  • “Probabilistic Modeling and Analysis of Water Hammer in Water Piping Systems”, Hong Kong RGC Project, 2007~2009

  • “Uncertainty analysis and sensitivity analysis on the mike11 models for shenzhen river and new territories basins”, DSD, Hong Kong, 2007~2008

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