Modeling air flow in sanitary sewer systems: A review

Current designs of sanitary collection systems normally only consider the transport of wastewater without attention on the air movement in the sewer airspaces. Under anaerobic conditions, hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) can be generated in the liquid phase in sewer systems. H₂S is corrosive to concrete and steel structures and odorous or even toxic to human, which can cause corrosion and sewer odor issues. To develop a feasible sewer corrosion and odor control strategy, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms of air flow in sewer systems for developing practical tools to predict and control the air flow. This paper comprehensively reviewed previous efforts on modeling the air flow in sewer systems and provided recommendations on predicting the air flow for engineering applications. The air flow in a single pipe was firstly reviewed followed by the air flow in sewer structures as well as air flow models in sewer networks. Some other considerations such as temperature driven flow, transient water flow, and wind effect were also reviewed. The knowledge gaps were then identified, and recommendations on the further studies were provided.