A pipeline testing facility for the examination of pipe-wall deposits and red-water events in drinking water

Field surveys of Thames Water's distribution mains found the occurrence of'red water' to be highly variable and localized. To model the many inter-related factors identified in the field, a controlled pipeline-testing facility was required to simulate conditions in a 'live' network, but on a pilot-scale. This was achieved by incorporating a specialized red-water testing facility into an existing experimental pipeline. This paper describes the hydraulic and material design features, including the addition of a 'dead-end' section operated on a stagnation and flow regime, quantified using computational fluid dynamics. Following commissioning, the facility has provided detailed, time-sequenced observations on corrosion-deposit development and red-water generation under different hydraulic regimes.