Putting photonics in sewers

在下水道里安装光子学。该项目旨在开发一种光子传感器能力，以测量导致污水管道中混凝土腐蚀的化合物。城市污水管网的可持续管理是一个全球性问题。气穴中的硫化氢和水会造成混凝土侵蚀，导致管道过早失效，造成高昂的财政、公共卫生和环境成本。目前的定性方法依赖于经常危险的管道视觉检查来识别混凝土腐蚀，而该项目将开发一种定量传感系统，直接测量关键化学物质，针对原因而不是结果。这项研究有望延长污水管网的使用寿命，并降低公众的成本。

Putting photonics in sewers. This project aims to develop a photonic sensor capability to measure chemical compounds that cause concrete corrosion in waste-water pipes. Sustainable management of urban waste-water networks is a global problem. Hydrogen sulphide and water in air pockets cause concrete attack that results in premature pipe failure with high financial, public health and environmental costs. Unlike current qualitative methods, which rely on often dangerous visual inspection of pipes to identify concrete corrosion, this project will develop a quantitative sensing system that directly measures key chemicals, targeting the cause and not the effect. This research is expected to extend the life of waste-water networks and reduce cost to the public.