Session: FSI-01-02 Thermal Hydraulic Phenomena with Vessels, Piping and Components-2

Paper Number: 123054

123054 - Tilting Manhole Cover: A Nonlinear Spring-Mass System 

Manhole covers are potential “dancers”.  They may leave their resting state and start “dancing”.  For those who do not believe this: search for “dancing manhole covers” on YouTube.  They may hoover, move up and down, tilt, rotate, bounce, make noise, flip over, or even fly up into the air.  In general, their motion looks chaotic, which relates to nonlinear dynamics.

The authors have derived basic models of dancing manhole covers [1] covering the translational vertical motion of free covers and the rotational motion of hinged covers.  In the current contribution the basic model is extended with tilting and bouncing behaviour.  Some fundamental problems and assumptions are discussed.  Preliminary numerical results are visualised by nice 3D visualisations.

Manhole covers are heavy, in the order of 100 kg, and their coming out of position forms a danger to pedestrians and road traffic.  This normally happens under heavy (wet) weather conditions when sewers are overloaded and large amounts of air and water need a way to escape.  Geysering is another, even more extreme, event occurring under these circumstances.

[1]          Meulenhof N.F. van de, Tijsseling A.S. & Vasconcelos J.G. (2022). Dancing manhole-cover basics. Proc. of the ASME 2022 Pressure Vessels and Piping Division Conf., Las Vegas, USA, Paper PVP2022-84546.

Presenting Author: Arris Tijsseling Eindhoven University of Technology

Presenting Author Biography: Arris S. Tijsseling is Associate Professor at Eindhoven University of Technology.

Authors:

Niels Van De Meulenhof Eindhoven University of Technology
Arris Tijsseling Eindhoven University of Technology
Jose Vasconcelos Auburn University
Qingzhi Hou Tianjin University
Zafer Bozkuş Middle East Technical University