Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2021-2022).

Groundwater penetration in subterranean sections of a building can lead to problems such as mould generation,x000D
which represents a potential health hazard, and flooding (through the accumulation of the solid material carriedx000D
by the groundwater at drains and resultant impedance of the flow of groundwater), which can represent a safetyx000D
hazard and render the flooded space unusable. With construction and subsequent building occupancy beingx000D
significant economic drivers, eliminating potential building-operation issues is important. Our industrialx000D
partner, Lisgar Construction, has identified, developed and implemented a technical solution based on deep bedx000D
filtration to deal with groundwater penetration, upon which they wish to improve.x000D
One means of improvement that is to be explored in this proposal is the addition of nanoparticulate material tox000D
the filter bed matrix. The inclusion of nanoparticles may help in capturing additional, finer-sized solids carriedx000D
by the groundwater without hindering fluid flow due to surface effects. Furthermore, treatment of thex000D
groundwater may be required prior to directing it through the municipal sewer system. To this end, we alsox000D
propose the addition of an electrochemical cell to remove pollutants that may be present in the groundwater tox000D
municipally-approved levels. In order to study such improvements, experimental studies of the overallx000D
performances of the filtration system and the electrochemical cell are to be undertaken. Numerical modellingx000D
will also be performed in parallel with the experiments, in order to provide greater insight to the performancex000D
and behaviour of the filtration system and also to develop a design tool by which filtration systems may bex000D
applied.