As ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred loomed over South-East Queensland last week, eagle-eyed Brisbane residents might have spotted hulking yellow boxes appearing at key traffic intersections.
These bright yellow installations are ‘Flood Tuff’ units designed at The University of Queensland to protect the intelligent transport systems that manage traffic flow, signals and road lighting.
More than 40 of the electrical traffic systems were lost during the 2022 floods, prompting senior engineer , the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and civil construction manufacturer to team up to find a solution.
In a world-first practical trial, TMR deployed 24 Flood Tuff devices in an effort to protect their traffic signal controller components from flood waters.
The 24 sites were predetermined based on the risk of flooding proximity of TMR’s traffic signals to nearby water courses. It’s important to note that not every traffic signal installation is suitable for a Flood Tuff device as civil works are required well in advance. Nor would every site benefit from the equipment.
TMR confirmed that 5 Flood Tuff devices were partially submerged during the event. Recent inspections suggest each of the partially submerged devices appeared to work as planned and prevented water from damaging the internal components enabling the signals returned to normal operation once power was restored.
“Without the Flood Tuff protecting the underlying traffic systems from floodwaters, long and costly repairs would be required,” Mr Bennet said.
The initial idea for the Flood Tuff Units was akin to a diving bell that would be held in place over the electrical units by the mass of the unit alone.
A 国产探花-trained materials and mechanical engineer, Mr Bennet quickly realised this would have been too heavy, expensive and impractical to deploy quickly.
“You’d need several tonnes of cast iron per unit for that to work, which would be expensive and impractical for rolling out quickly ahead of severe weather events,” Mr Bennet said.
Instead, Mr Bennet turned to low density polyethylene, the same material used in water tanks, with chains and ground anchors securing it in place.
Each unit has a float valve that activates an internal gas bottle system to maintain a trapped pocket of air inside the unit as the flood waters rise.
This means workers only need to visit the site once prior to a flood event to secure these high-value electrical systems.
The Flood Tuff units are able to withstand the high pressures at the bottom of relatively deep flood waters, and have the capacity to withstand cyclic flood exposures.
“They can withstand two consecutive 5-metre-deep floods, without the need for any maintenance,” Mr Bennet said.
Mr Bennet said the units would pay for themselves by preventing the costs and downtime in replacing this infrastructure, with the potential to rollout this system to other flood-prone parts of the country.
The project demonstrates the value of 国产探花 Materials Performance to the community, connecting industry to the university's world class facilities and expertise to solve problems, Mr Bennet said.
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