Monday, August 8, 2022
SCIENMAG: Latest Science and Health News
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag - Latest science news from science magazine
No Result
View All Result
Home SCIENCE NEWS Technology and Engineering

The big dig: A global software solution for road, water and sewer repairs

February 10, 2016
in Technology and Engineering
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Montreal, Feb. 9, 2016 — Ever have your street repaved one year, only to have it torn up for sewage work shortly afterwards? Municipal blunders like this may soon be a thing of the past, thanks to new software developed by researchers at Concordia University in MOntreal.

In a paper recently published in the Journal of Construction Engineering Management, former graduate student Khaled Shahata and Tarek Zayed, a professor in the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, describe an innovative method of tracking the many issues involved with the repair and renewal of road, water and sewer networks.

"The main problem is that city infrastructure planners often work in silos," says Zayed, the study's senior author. "When the infrastructure shares the same space, the integration of roads, water and waste water is a major planning challenge."

By combining a wide variety of variables for water, sewage and road networks, the software developed by Zayed and Shahata breaks down those silos. It identifies risk factors and consequences of a project's failure to map out which areas are most in need of attention, as well as where resources would most effectively allocated.

This software solution comes not a moment too soon.

"Water supply and sewer systems across North America have reached a point where maintenance and renewal is essential," says Shahata, who conducted the research during his graduate studies at Concordia. He is now an asset management specialist for the City of London, Ontario.

"Most of the drinking water infrastructure is nearing the end of its useful life," Shahata says.

"Forty-two per cent of America's major urban highways are congested, and three-quarters of waste-water systems need pipe repair. It's not much better in Canada, where about 30 per cent of municipal infrastructure has been assessed as between fair and very poor."

While infrastructure repair and rehabilitation is constantly underway in cities across the continent, carrying out that work is not always so easy. Issues like shrinking budgets, health risks, environmental concerns and maintenance are major obstacles.

Zayed believes the software, which was initially implemented in a pilot project for the City of Guelph, could soon be used by municipalities around the world.

"These problems are common in cities around the world," he says. "By using this software, we remove the planning issues that often exist between these separate entities and consider a city's infrastructure issues more holistically.

"The end result is a more streamlined repair and rehabilitation process that uses the available budget in the most efficient way possible."

Related links:

Read the full Concordia study: "Integrated Risk-Assessment Framework for Municipal Infrastructure."

Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering https://www.concordia.ca/encs/bcee.html

Tarek Zayed https://www.concordia.ca/encs/bcee/faculty.html?fpid=tarek-zayed

Khaled Shahata http://concordia.academia.edu/KhaledShahata

###

Media contact:

Cléa Desjardins
Senior advisor, media relations
Phone: 514-848-2424, ext. 5068
Email: [email protected]
University Communications Services
Concordia University
Web: http://www.concordia.ca/now/media-relations
Twitter: @CleaDesjardins

Media Contact

Cléa Desjardins
[email protected]
514-909-2999
@ConcordiaUnews

http://www.concordia.ca

Share25Tweet16Share4ShareSendShare
  • Sunset

    Down on Vitamin D? It could be the cause of chronic inflammation

    71 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
  • New flavored nicotine gums, lozenges, and gummies rank second among nicotine products used by U.S. teens

    67 shares
    Share 27 Tweet 17
  • The North American Menopause Society releases its 2022 Hormone Therapy Position Statement

    140 shares
    Share 56 Tweet 35
  • Fatigue, headache among top lingering symptoms months after COVID

    64 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • Coarse sea spray keeps lightning strikes away

    64 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
  • Can scratches on car surfaces disappear when exposed to sunlight? : A new self-healing coating material

    64 shares
    Share 26 Tweet 16
ADVERTISEMENT

About us

We bring you the latest science news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Latest NEWS

Can an algorithm teach scientists to write better quantum computer programs?

The North American Menopause Society releases its 2022 Hormone Therapy Position Statement

Shrunken heads (tsantsas) in museum collections could be authenticated and better understood using sophisticated imaging methods

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 192 other subscribers

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME PAGE
  • BIOLOGY
  • CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS
  • MEDICINE
    • Cancer
    • Infectious Emerging Diseases
  • SPACE
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • CONTACT US

© 2022 Scienmag- Science Magazine: Latest Science News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In