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Air in the headspace of sewer laterals can be driven by the flowing sewage as well as air pressure. In this study, the openings on manholes for air flow are approximated as a thin continuous slot at the laterals. In this way, the governing equations can be solved analytically for infinitely long laterals without water flow. For cases with water flow, a numerical solution is developed. It is found that the air flow pattern in a long lateral can be categorized into three zones. The zone closest to the trunk is defined as the "zone of influence," where the air flow in the lateral is dominated by air pressure, and the air pressure and air velocity decay exponentially in the lateral. The second zone is named as "zone of equilibrium" where the air pressure gradient is zero and the air flow is only driven by the drag of water and can be calculated analytically. The air flow zone farthest from the trunk is defined as the "zone of induction" where the air is inducted into the system for mass balance in the system. An explicit fitting expression on the air velocity and water velocity in a long lateral is provided. A graphic solution for air velocity and zone of influence is also developed for a quick estimation on the air movement in sewer laterals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current designs of sanitary collection systems normally only consider the transport of wastewater without attention on the air movement in the sewer airspaces. Under anaerobic conditions, hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) can be generated in the liquid phase in sewer systems. H 2 S is corrosive to concrete and steel structures and odorous or even toxic to human, which can cause corrosion and sewer odor issues. To develop a feasible sewer corrosion and odor control strategy, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms of air flow in sewer systems for developing practical tools to predict and control the air flow. This paper comprehensively reviewed previous efforts on modeling the air flow in sewer systems and provided recommendations on predicting the air flow for engineering applications. The air flow in a single pipe was firstly reviewed followed by the air flow in sewer structures as well as air flow models in sewer networks. Some other considerations such as temperature driven flow, transient water flow, and wind effect were also reviewed. The knowledge gaps were then identified, and recommendations on the further studies were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]