Modelling the impact on infrastructure resilience of local vegetation-influenced ground movement with multi-scale spatio-temporal environmental data

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Brief definition of research project: The UK water network includes pipes of different materials, diameters and ages. These pipes are buried in different soils and have different external factors influencing their resilience. We know that ground movement breaks pipes, but due to the complexity of the environment and pipe network, predicting the number of bursts, and particularly where they are most likely to occur, remains very challenging. Based on the location, height and canopy of the 28 million trees within our study area, you will calculate areas of 'tree influence' on soil moisture, and use these to predict highly local ground movements. It is expected that the incorporation of the new tree datasets into infrastructure-environmental models will enhance our ability to predict the location of burst pipes. Taking a large, historic 10 year, case study in the Anglian Water region, this will be the first time environmental-water infrastructure models based on soil, weather and tree variables will have been developed and tested on this scale.You will test the relationships hypothesised using a range of statistical methods to assess the relative contributions of the infrastructure and environmental variables to each infrastructure failure. The changing impact of trees on local soil moisture under future climates will also be modelled.Due to the age and variable integrity of the UK water network, this work will be of national importance in as it will help to focus the limited resources available for repair and replacement in the areas which will deliver the maximum benefit in reducing leakage and associated energy costs, collateral damage to nearby infrastructure, and minimising the potential impact of failures to both humans and the environment.