Engineering in Practice

Events and Activities

Webinar on Eco-hydraulics and Low Impact Development in Urban Drainage Systems

Technical Seminar:
Eco-hydraulics and Low Impact Development in Urban Drainage Systems

 

Date, time & venue

25 October 2023 (Wednesday), 17:00-18:00, Seminar via Zoom Meeting

Organized by

HKIE Civil Division and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Programme Highlight

Urbanization and climate change have compound impacts on significant increase in the severity and frequency of recent catastrophic urban flooding events. Climate change-based extreme rainfall events yield significant stormwater which becomes unmanageable because of limited infiltration opportunities in urban areas, leading to flooding phenomena. The sustainable stormwater management solutions known as low impact development (LID) or sponge city concept are evidenced to mitigate negative impacts of extreme rainfalls on urban drainage systems by promoting natural hydrological processes in urban areas. The decentralized distribution of different LID practices such as bioretention cells, green roofs, rain gardens, permeable pavements, etc., within urban areas facilitates infiltration, retention, cleansing, storage, and treatment of stormwater at source. However, the optimal design and distribution of different LIDs considering their retrofitting size, type and appropriate location has been a great challenge considering the retrofit budget, topographical and hydrological characteristics of catchment, waterlogging conditions, future urbanization and climate change patterns, stakeholder’s interests and involvements. In the meantime, an effective implementation of LIDs in urban areas is crucial as mitigation and adaptation measures in response to negative impacts of urbanization and climate change, such as increased precipitation and sea level rise, to enhance resilience, promote biodiversity, and improve water quality of existing urban drainage systems. In this context, this seminar will start with the introduction of fundamental and essential knowledge for the understanding and implementation of LID measures in urban drainage systems, involving fluid mechanics and eco-hydraulics. This is followed by the theoretical framework development and real-life cases study of LIDs optimization and implementation subject to the variability of system and climate conditions. Relevant discussion and summary will be given at the end of this talk.

 

Language

English

 

Fee

Free of Charge.

Speakers
Dr. Huan-Feng Duan is currently an associate professor and the unit leader of hydraulic engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). He is engaged in the research of urban hydraulics and fluid mechanics, including various research topics of urban water supply system and sponge city (or LID), river and channel hydrodynamics, coastal flooding and climate change. Dr. Duan has published his representative papers in the top/key journals of his research field, such as Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Water Resources Research and Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, which have been selected as highlight and prize-winning papers by journal editors. At present, Dr. Duan serves for the editorship of several journals, such as: (1) Editor-in-Chief of Engineering Application of Computational Fluid Mechanics (JCR Q1) and (2) Associate Editor of IWA AQUA – Water Infrastructure, Ecosystems and Society (JCR Q1). Meanwhile, he is an active member of ASCE and IAHR. Recognized for his research achievements, Dr. Duan is the recipient of the ASCE Karl Emil Hilgard Hydraulic Prize 2022, the IAHR Willi H. Hager JHR Best Reviewer Award 2021 and the Dayu Water Science and Technology Award from the Ministry of Water Resources of China 2023 (second prize). So far, he has led a number of research projects from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), including General Research Funds (GRFs), Collaborative Research Fund – Young Collaborative Research Grant (YCRG), NSFC/RGC Joint Research Scheme (JRS), and several sub-projects of Theme-based Research Scheme (TRS).


Registration & Enquiries

Please complete the on-line registration at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l3OBHaGUSn2FMvHfCrug4g. The number of participants is limited to 500 on a first-come-first served basis. Priority will be given to members of the Civil Division.

Email registration will not be accepted. Successful applicants will be informed by email and provided a link to the Zoom Meeting at the designated time slot. Participants need to sign in using the membership no. and name entered at the time of registration. A CPD certificate will be issued 3 weeks after the seminar based on this membership no. and name.

For enquiries, please contact Mr. Alan Yan via email: alanyan@pyengineering.com.