André Arsénio and Jan Vreeburg win Jaap van der Graaf award

The Jaap van der Graaf award was presented on 8 January, during the 68th Vakantiecursus ‘Water in de City’ of TU Delft’s department of Water Management. The award is attributed to a student or researcher who, over the preceding year, writes the best English-language article on the urban water cycle. The winning article by André Arsénio, Jan Vreeburg and their fellow authors, was published in the journal Structure and Infrastructure Engineering under the title ‘Pipe failure predictions in drinking water systems using satellite observations’.

The article is based on the results of the TTIW/Wetsus research project: ‘Lifetime Prediction of PVC Push-fit Joints’, for which Arsénio received his doctorate in 2013, with Vreeburg as one of his co-supervisors.

The jury assessed a total of 52 articles on the basis of five primary criteria: societal contribution, innovation, short- to mid-term applicability, science and language. The jury decided on Arsénio’s article particularly in view of the societal relevance of pipe maintenance and of the prediction of pipe failures. The jury pointed to the replacement of (drinking water) pipes as the challenge over the coming decades. Moreover, the results can be simply transposed to the maintenance of other pipe networks, such as those for gas or sewage systems.

Pipe failure predictions in drinking water systems using satellite observations

Authors: Arsénio AM, Dheenathayalan P, Hanssen R, Vreeburg J, Rietveld L.
In: Structure and Infrastructure Engineering 11(2014)8, p.1102-1111

Photo: Frank Auperlé