October 2013 VOL: XXXXVI, No.

04
Commemorating
40 years of publication
Printed by Karunaratne & Sons (Pvt) Ltd.

From the Editor ... III

SECTION I

Factors Influencing the Service Life of
Buildings
by: Eng. (Prof.) W P S Dias

Potential and Viability of Rice Husk Based
Power Generation in Sri Lanka
by: Eng. (Dr.) Asanka S Rodrigo and Eng.
Shantha Perera

Investigation on Efficiency of Repairing and
Retrofitting Methods for Chloride induced
Corrosion of Reinforced Concrete Structures
by: Eng. B H J Pushpakumara, Eng. (Dr.)
Sudhira De Silva and Eng. (Dr.) (Mrs.)
G H M J Subashi De Silva

Productivity in Construction A Critical
Review of Research
by: Eng. (Dr.) D A R Dolage and Dr. Paul
Chan

Stream flow, Suspended Solids and
Turbidity Characteristics of the Gin River,
Sri Lanka
by: Eng. (Mrs.) T N Wickramaarachchi,
Eng. (Dr.) H. Ishidaira and Eng. (Dr.) T
M N Wijayaratna

Peak Electricity Demand Prediction Model
for Sri Lanka Power System
by: G V Buddhika De Silva and Eng. Lalith
A Samaliarachchi


SECTION II

Floating Wetlands for Management of Algal
Washout from Waste Stabilization Pond
Effluent: Case study at Hikkaduwa Waste
Stabilization Ponds
Notes:
ENGINEER, established in 1973, is a Quarterly
Journal, published in the months of January,
April, July & October of the year.
All published articles have been refereed in
anonymity by at least two subject specialists.
Section I contains articles based on Engineering
Research while Section II contains articles of
Professional Interest.
ENGINEER

JOURNAL OF THE INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS, SRI LANKA
* Completed 40 Years of Publication *

EDITORIAL BOARD

Eng. Tilak De Silva -President(Chairman)

Eng. W. Gamage - Chairman, Library
and Publication
Committee
Eng. (Prof.) K. P. P. Pathirana - Editor Transaction
Eng. (Prof.) T. M. Pallewatta - Editor ENGINEER
Eng. (Dr.) U. P. Nawagamuwa - Editor SLEN
Eng. (Prof.) (Mrs.) N. Rathnayaka
Eng. (Dr.) D. A. R. Dolage
Eng. (Miss.) Arundathi Wimalasuriya
Eng. (Dr.) K. S. Wanniarachchi

The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka
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Sri Lanka.

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COVER PAGE











Colombo Katunayaka Expressway (CKE)
Constructed addressing a long felt need for expedient
access from Katunayaka International Airport to the city of
Colombo, CKE was declared open by H E the President of
Sri Lanka on 2013 October 27. Construction commenced
on 2009 August 18 on the 25.8 km four lane expressway
with a segment from Kelani Bridge to Peliyagoda
interchange having six lanes. With three interchanges and
option to connect to Outer Circular Highway (OCH) at
Kerawalapitiya this expressway reduces 90 minute travel
time through route A-003 to 20 minutes.


Courtesy of the Road Development Authority





The statements made or opinions expressed in the
Engineer do not necessarily reflect the views of the
Council or a Committee of the Institution of
Engineers Sri Lanka, unless expressly stated.
October 2013 VOL: XXXXVI, No. 04
Commemorating
40 years of publication
CONTENTS
Vol.: XXXXVI, No. 04, October 2013
ISSN 1800-1122
III
1
9
19
31
43
53
63
by: Eng. (Mrs.) Sujatha Kalubowila, Dr.
Mahesh Jayaweera, Eng. Chandrika M.
Nanayakkara and Eng. Dhanesh N. De
S. Gunatilleke

The above Paper was placed First in the Over 35 years of
age Category at the Competition on Water Resources
Development and Future Challenges- Role of
Engineering meeting Future Challenges of Water
Resources Development in Sri Lanka 2012/2013
Sponsored by: International Water Management
Institute (IWMI)

II
FROM THE EDITOR..



Reducing the travel time of a 30 km route by as much as 75% is what has been
achieved by the newly opened Colombo Katunayaka Expressway (CKE). After
successfully defeating terrorism that had been plaguing the country for a long period,
we are on the way to development with ambitious targets. In this scenario, the fact that
transportation infrastructure becomes a prerequisite launch board, has not escaped our
Engineers, political decision makers as well as funding agencies. It is a fact that hinder
free expedient access from the first international airport to the commercial city of the
country will facilitate corporate activities, industry and tourism.

Emergence of better highways and expressways has been the highlight of
transportation infrastructure in this country for the past few decades. However, in the
development of any infrastructure in this era of fast depleting natural resources, very
special considerations need to be granted to economy and sustainability in a global
sense. When it comes to transportation, the primary consideration should be to
minimize the cost per unit per unit distance, be it people or goods, without neglecting
sustainability, environmental and social impacts. When above factors are given
cognizance under a technical viewpoint, it would become very clear to you that Rail
transport naturally comes to the lead. As a mass land transport mode with the lowest
rolling resistance and predefined right of way, rail transport has the aptitude to keep the
burden posed by travel and transport needs of an ever growing populace on our planet,
at bay. This fact is amply endorsed by the so called Developed countries of the world
that have adopted rail as the primary land transport mode.

It can not be denied that, our country has in fact, retracted pre independence rail
track infrastructure and given undue prominence to roads. Though drastically late, we
should at least now direct our energies at improving and expanding the railway
infrastructure in this land. In support of this argument, suffice to say that, it could be the
only way in a future devoid of abundant fossil fuels.






Eng. (Prof.) T. M. Pallewatta, Int. PEng (SL), C. Eng, FIE(SL), FIAE(SL)
Editor, ENGINEER, Journal of The Institution of Engineers.
III
SECTION I
1 ENGINEER

Factors Influencing the Service Life of Buildings
W.P.S. Dias

Abstract: The service life of a building depends mainly on its chief structural materials and the
environment it is placed in. This paper collates the evidence from condition surveys conducted on
some buildings with ages of up to 125 years set in a humid tropical environment, and seeks to arrive
at some generalizations. Load bearing masonry walls and timber floors had performed well, as had
exposed steel sections that were well maintained. Buildings with such elements could be expected to
last well beyond the normal design life of 60 years. If a reinforced concrete building had been
exposed to a chloride source, major repairs were required after just half this design life. Carbonation
depth was found to broadly obey a correlation with the square root of time. However, it is shown that
both depths of carbonation and surface chloride levels can vary considerably in different parts of the
same building. These findings have direct implications for both construction (in the choice of
materials) and inspection (with respect to sampling and use of multiple test methods).

Keywords: Service life, durability, chlorides, carbonation, corrosion


1. Introduction

1.1. The Service Life of Buildings

The service life of structures depend on a
variety of factors, such as (i) their purpose; (ii)
socio-economic considerations; (iii) materials of
construction; (iv) surrounding environment;
and (v) degree of maintenance (Dias, 2003).

Very long service life of even up to 500 years or
more would be desired for monumental
buildings such as temples and churches. Public
buildings such as town halls and parliament
buildings could be expected to last for 100 to
200 years, whereas private structures such as
offices and dwellings for perhaps 50 to 60 years.
BS 7543 (1992), defines the normal life of a
building as 60 years. The new Eurocodes, e.g.
BS EN 1992-1-1 (2008), assume this period to be
a lower one of 50 years.

Socio-economic considerations impinge on the
above durations, some of which tend to reduce
the lifespans of buildings, while others increase
them. The changing needs of various owners,
and indeed the changing face of the city or area
in which the building is located, may cause a
building to be obsolete even before it ceases to
be serviceable. In the context of the above
proneness to change, most investors or builders
may not want to invest in a building with an
excessive service life. On the other hand,
owners sometimes try to use an existing
building over and above its service life, because
demolition and reconstruction may force them
to comply with new planning regulations. Also,
once a building exceeds a certain lifespan, the
owner, or even other interested parties, may
wish to prolong its life further, if it is
considered a national heritage.

The different materials of construction that are
used in a building will give rise to different
rates of deterioration. In general, steel and
reinforced concrete will tend to deteriorate
faster than masonry; and timber in internal
environments. Heat and moisture are
environmental factors that tend to accelerate
deterioration. Where steel embedded concrete
and structural steel are concerned, a chloride
environment, inclusive of proximity to the
coast, will significantly enhance corrosion.

The factors affecting service life can vary, not
only from building to building, but even within
a given building. For example, (i) The quality of
the substructure, superstructure and even roof
structure in a building may vary if different
subcontractors were responsible for them; (ii)
the environment a building is subjected to will
vary from external elements to internal
elements and also from seaward side to
landward side (if it is near the coast); and (iii)
different building elements may receive
different degrees of maintenance, depending on
their accessibility and inspectability.

1.2. Changes in Construction Technology

From a historical perspective, we can identify
Eng. (Prof.) W.P.S. Dias, BScEng(Hons), PhD(Lond),
DIC, CEng, MIStructE, FIE(Sri Lanka), Senior Professor of
Civil Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXVI, No. 04, pp. [1-7], 2013
The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka
ENGINEER 1
ENGINEER 2
1945 as a point at which there was a worldwide
shift in building materials usage i.e. most
structural steel used for beams and columns,
and timber used for floors, was replaced with
reinforced concrete.

We can also identify a time around 1975 as a
point at which there were a more subtle
changes in the quality of building materials.
There was a worldwide change in cement
manufacturing processes, resulting in cements
that developed greater strengths quicker (due
to the increased percentage of tricalcium silicate
in cements). This meant that a given strength of
concrete (normally tested at an age of 28 days)
could be achieved with less cement. However,
concretes were now made not only with lower
cement contents, but also with lower
percentages of the ingredient in cement (i.e.
dicalcium silicate) that contributed to longer
term strength development. This resulted in a
lowering of the durability properties of the
concrete. There was also a worldwide scarcity
of timber for construction, causing less durable
species of timber to be used for construction.
Although such species were chemically treated
to improve durability, the efficiency of
treatment may not always have been adequate.

The passage of time (especially since 1975) has
of course seen increasingly greater awareness of
durability issues, and these have been reflected
in codes of practice, especially in those for
reinforced concrete. It can therefore be argued
that the greater awareness of durability issues
has compensated for some of the detrimental
impacts on durability described above. In this
same period, building durability has been
improved through the availability of good
quality waterproofing materials, performance
enhancing admixtures for concrete and
specialist repair materials (e.g. repair mortars).
However, building longevity may have
decreased due to the modern practice of hiding
most of the structural elements behind ceilings,
paneling and facades, thus making inspection
(and hence the early arresting of deterioration)
more difficult.

2. Objectives and Methodology

The first objective of this paper is to analyse a
set of condition evaluations carried out on
buildings from the ages of 7 to 125 years, and to
draw various lessons from that analysis
regarding the factors that either increase or
decrease the longevity of buildings. These
evaluations have not been carried out in a
random fashion, but rather in response to
clients. At early ages, such evaluations are
generally made only due to changes of building
ownership. In mid life a need for evaluation
often occurs due to unexpected deterioration.
At older ages, clients request evaluations
because of concern regarding the continued
safety of their buildings. Many of these
evaluations are based largely on visual
inspection, but some of them are backed up by
a reasonable degree of sampling for material
properties, inclusive of durability indices (e.g.
Dias, 1994; Dias and Jayanandana, 2003; Dias
and Sivasubramaniam, 1989).

The second objective of this paper is to analyse
some data regarding the depths of carbonation
and surface chloride levels of some reinforced
concrete elements or structures, because
carbonation and chloride ingress are the two
main mechanisms that lead to the deterioration
of such structures. Considerable focus is placed
on variations of such indices within the
structure itself.

The carbonation depths have been obtained by
spraying a 1% phenolphthalein solution onto
freshly cut surfaces and noting the depth that
remains colourless. The fresh cuts were made
either by coring (where the core is used for a
variety of other purposes such as strength
testing) or by advancing a drill bit into the
surface in increments of 5 mm, spraying the
phenolphthalein solution into the hole at each
increment and noting the depth at which the
outflowing liquid is pink in colour. The
carbonation depths in a structure at a given age
will help us to estimate how much longer it will
take for the carbonation front to reach the
reinforcement (i.e. for the incubation phase to
be completed), after which the likelihood of
corrosion increases significantly. If the front has
already passed the level of the reinforcement, it
signals the need to take stringent measures for
ensuring that the reinforced concrete elements
are waterproof.

Procedures for determining the chloride profile
within the concrete cover zone are well
documented (e.g. see de Rooij and Polder,
2004). This can be done by using extracted
cores, slicing them and obtaining the chloride
contents at various depths. It is then possible to
predict the time at which the chloride content at
the level of the reinforcement will reach a
certain threshold value for corrosion initiation
by using the surface chloride concentration and
the diffusion coefficient obtained from the
ENGINEER 2

3 ENGINEER
chloride profile. However, obtaining the
diffusion coefficient in this way is difficult and
tedious (de Rooij and Polder, 2004).

As such, the above modeling can also be done
by using values published in the literature (e.g.
Bentz and Thomas, 2012). These depend on the
water/cement ratio (which affects the initial
diffusion coefficient) and type of cement (which
affects the age dependent variation of that
coefficient). Whatever method is used, the
surface chloride content must be obtained from
the structure being examined. Published
literature also gives guidance regarding the
rates of surface chloride build-up. However,
such broad generalizations may not be
accurate, and there could also be variations
depending on the micro environment.

The surface chloride contents for the case
studies in this paper have been obtained by
taking the surface layer of the element, whether
a plaster coating (of around 10 mm thickness)
or a surface slice of 5 mm from extracted cores,
and determining either the total or water
soluble chloride content in that layer by acid or
water extraction respectively.

3. Case Studies of Deterioration

Table 1 gives a few cases of buildings that were
inspected for condition evaluation over a
period ranging from 1988 to 2011, with the age
of the building at inspection given in
parentheses. They are listed in inverse order of
year of construction, which also happens to
correspond to increasing age when the
inspection was made. The cases can be divided
into three broad categories, separated by bold
horizontal lines in Table 1. The 7 and 12 year
old buildings, which do not show any visible
deterioration, fall into the first category.

In the next category are buildings of ages 25 to
30 years where distress of varying degree has
occurred in reinforced concrete elements, due
to chloride induced corrosion. The chloride
source for both the Hotel Sunflower and
Buddhist Girls School is sea spray. It should be
noted that the much greater corrosion in the
latter is due to poor construction. For the
Puttalam Cement Works, the chloride source
was the groundwater used during construction
(Dias and Jayanandana, 2003), and for the
Bandaranaike Wing of the Colombo General
Hospital, contamination from the toilets (Dias
and Sivasubramaniam, 1989). This suggests that
serious repair work may become necessary
after around 30 years if reinforced concrete
elements of a building are exposed to a chloride
source.

In the last category are buildings that have
survived for 65 to 125 years. It should be noted
that the main structural elements are not of
reinforced concrete in these buildings; note that
these have been constructed prior to the year
1945, alluded to before. Two of the 100 year old
buildings had masonry loadbearing walls and
timber floors too - i.e. no steel at all. This
combination is arguably the best combination
for ensuring long service life. The rest of the
buildings in this category are steel framed, with
reinforced concrete floors or roofs. In almost all
cases the reinforced concrete elements
experienced significant corrosion, especially
roofs and toilet areas. The Grand Hotel
displayed only minimal deterioration in the
slabs above the kitchens, which are moist and
humid environments. In general hotel buildings
tend to be well maintained, with defects
attended to promptly. Steel columns and beams
that were exposed (and hence easily painted)
performed very well, as seen in the 125 year old
Gaffoor Building (Figure 1), where the contrast
with the reinforced concrete slab is stark. On
the other hand, encasing the columns in
concrete (Figure 2) and the beams in a mesh
and plaster covering (Figure 3) resulted in
undetected corrosion of the structural elements.




Figure 1 Exposed steel columns and beams
in the 125 year old Gaffoor Building

4. Depths of Carbonation

Apart from a chloride environment, referred to
above, reinforced concrete in all environments
will experience carbonation. When the
carbonation front reaches the reinforcement, the
chemical protection given to it by the concrete
ENGINEER 3
ENGINEER 4
Table 1 Analysis of Condition Evaluations

Building Year &
Age (yrs)
Building
Type
Deterioration Comments
Smart Shirts
Factory,
Katunayake
1991
(7)
RC frame
and slabs
Not apparent
Tourist Board
Building,
Colombo 4
1982
(12)
RC frame
and slabs
Not apparent
Buddhist Girls
School, Mt.
Lavinia
1977
(25)
RC frame
and slabs
Columns and sunshades
badly corroded
Location close to coast;
poor quality construction
Hotel Sunflower,
Negombo
1974
(25)
RC frame
and slabs
Some corrosion Location close to coast
Puttalam Cement
Works
1970
(28)
RC frame
and slabs
Some buildings badly
corroded
High chloride levels in
groundwater used for
concreting
Bandaranaike
Wing, Colombo
General Hospital
1958
(30)
RC frame
and slabs
Severe corrosion in toilet
area slabs
High chloride levels
through operation
Baurs
Tenemants,
Grandpass Road
1936
(65)
Steel frame;
RC slabs
and roof
RC roof badly corroded;
also open corridor and
toilet slabs
Poorly maintained
Angoda Mental
Hospital
1925
(72)
Steel frame,
RC slabs
Toilet area slabs badly
corroded
Poorly maintained
Grand Hotel,
Nuwara Eliya
1911
(100)
Masonry;
timber & RC
floors
Some deterioration in
slabs above kitchens
Generally cool
environment; well
maintained.
Central Point,
Colombo Fort
1911
(100)
Steel frame;
RC slabs
and roof
Corrosion in internal
cased columns and roof

Institute of
Aesthetic Studies,
Colombo 7
1899
(100)
Masonry;
timber floor;
RC roof
All RC components
corroded

Gaffoor Building,
Colombo Fort
1886
(125)
Steel frame
& roof; RC
slabs
Severe corrosion in slabs




Figure 2 Significant corrosion in concrete
encased steel internal column in
Central Point building



Figure 3 Corrosion in steel floor beam
covered by wire mesh and plaster in
Central Point building
ENGINEER 4

5 ENGINEER
will be lost, and corrosion will take place,
especially in a moist or wet environment. The
depth of carbonation is considered to be a
function of the square root of time. Figure 4
gives a relationship for these two entities (the
trend line is not forced through the origin) for
some of the buildings in Table 1 together with a
few others. Such a universal relationship will
not strictly be possible for concretes of various
qualities, and even moisture conditions.
However, since most of the concretes are of
around grade 20 quality, Figure 4 could be used
to obtain approximately the likely carbonation
depths in concretes of various ages.

y = 4.924x
R = 0.850
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
D
e
p
t
h

o
f

C
a
r
b
o
n
a
t
i
o
n

(
m
m
)
Age ^ 0.5 (years ^ 0.5)

Figure 4 Carbonation depth as a function of
the square root of time

The slope of a logarithmic plot between depth
of carbonation (d) and time (t) will give an
estimate of the exponent n, in the relationship
d = k(t)
n
, where k is a constant. Such a plot in
Figure 5 gives the exponent as 0.69, somewhat
higher than the usually adopted value of 0.5
(i.e. the square root of time law). This may be
due to the possibility that the older concretes
have a higher k value than the more recent ones
(Richardson, 1988). A plot using only the first
four data points in Figure 5 (corresponding to a
maximum age of 30 years and years of
construction from 1958 to 1991) gives the
expected slope of 0.52. It should be noted that
these four data points all fall below the
regression line in Figure 4.

Figure 5 is based on the average carbonation
depths from the buildings surveyed. There can
however be significant differences between
various areas in a building. For example, Figure
6 shows the differences in depths of
carbonation for toilet areas compared to
corridor ones in the 30 year old Bandaranaike
Wing of the Colombo General Hospital (Dias
and Sivasubramaniam, 1989). The corridor
areas were more carbonated because the
concrete was dry, whereas the toilet areas were
less carbonated because the concrete was wet,
with 4 zero values too. However, there is
greater scatter in the values for the toilets,
inclusive of some high values these regions
would be very susceptible to corrosion if the
carbonation depth exceeds the cover provided,
because of the wet conditions. The phenomena
of zero carbonation depths and widespread
variation in such depths within a building have
been reported before (Roy et al, 1996).



Figure 5 Determining the exponent n in the
expression d = kt
n


0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
D
e
p
t
h

o
f

C
a
r
b
o
n
a
t
i
o
n

(
m
m
)
Toilet areas
Corridor areas
Toilet average
Corridor average

Figure 6 Carbonation depths at
Bandaranaike Wing, Colombo General
Hospital

5. Surface Chloride Levels

Figure 7 gives the variation in the rate of
surface chloride build up for different elements
in 3 coastal hotels of varying ages. There is a
clear difference between the rates for interior
and exterior elements, with the former being
significantly less than the latter and displaying
much less scatter. It should be noted that these
rates have been obtained from the water soluble
average chloride contents in plasters of
thickness around 10 mm. The published
literature for total surface chloride build up
rates on concrete surfaces can range from
0.004% to more than 0.1% by weight of concrete
ENGINEER 5
ENGINEER 6
per year, depending on the proximity to the
coast (Bentz and Thomas, 2012).

0.0000
0.0010
0.0020
0.0030
0.0040
0.0050
Interior
slabs
Exterior
slabs
Exterior
beams
Exterior
columns
C
h
l
o
r
i
d
e

b
u
i
l
d

u
p

r
a
t
e

(
%
/
y
e
a
r
)
21 yrs
28 yrs
34 yrs

Figure 7 Surface chloride build up rates at 3
coastal hotels of different ages

Another example of within structure surface
chloride level variations is given in Table 2 for
the 100 year old Central Point building in
Colombo Fort, a capital port city. These total
(i.e. acid soluble) chloride levels were obtained
from 5 mm thick slices cut from the bottom
surfaces of 4 cores taken at each floor level. The
very high levels in the fourth and fifth floors
compared to the lower ones may be due to the
shielding of the lower floors by surrounding
buildings. It may also be due to sea spray
contaminated rainwater entering the upper
floor levels through observed leaks in the
concrete roof. The evidence for the chloride
level variation is confirmed by the degree of
corrosion observed in the mesh reinforcement
embedded in those cores. Figures 8(a), 8(b) and
8(c) give examples of the degree of corrosion
defined as low (L), medium (M) and high (H).

6. Concluding Discussion -
Implications for Practice

The case studies in Table 1 indicate that if very
long service life is required, consideration
should be given to using construction materials
such as masonry for walls, timber for floors and
exposed (not encased) steel sections for
columns and beams. Such materials, especially
the steel sections, will however require
continuous maintenance. Reinforced concrete,
although very popular after around 1945, is
good for normal life buildings (i.e. 50 to 60
years) that need little maintenance.

If reinforced concrete is used for buildings in
chloride environments, provision will have to
be made for improved design (e.g. greater
cover and better quality concrete); else the
buildings may reach only around half their
expected service life.

Table 2 Surface chloride content variations
in Central Point building

Floor Chloride content
(w/w %)
(range, average)
Corrosion
Level
(H, M, L)
Ground 0.02 - 0.04 (0.03) L, L, L, L
First 0.03 0.05 (0.04) L, L, L, L
Second 0.03 0.04 (0.038) L, L, L, M
Third <0.01 0.07 (0.045) L, L, L, H
Fourth 0.04 0.31 (0.150) L, L, M, H
Fifth 0.07 0.50 (0.210) H, H, H, H

When conducting forensic investigations on
buildings, care should be taken to ensure that
samples are taken from various exposure
conditions, because carbonation depths and
surface chloride levels can differ considerably
from one part of a building to another. This will
enable more nuanced strategies to be proposed
for continued use.

Greater confidence in the sampling can be
obtained by combining and comparing
different test results. For example, the surface
chloride levels can be compared with the
degree of corrosion in embedded
reinforcement. Comparisons can also be made
between the structure being investigated and
the accumulated data from buildings in a


(a) (b) (c)
Figure 8 Degrees of corrosion in embedded reinforcement: (a) Low; (b) Medium; (c) High
ENGINEER 6

7 ENGINEER
similar environment. For example, the estimate
for the carbonation related incubation phase
duration can be obtained both from the
building concerned and also from an overall
curve for buildings of varying ages

References

1. Bentz, E. C. and Thomas, M. D. A. (2012).
Life-365 Service life Prediction Model for
Reinforced Concrete Exposed to Chlorides:
Computer Program and user manual, v. 2.1.
Life-365 Consortium II, January.

2. BS 7543: 1992. Guide to Durability of
Buildings and Building Elements, Products
and Components. British Standards
Institution, Milton Keynes.

3. BSEN 1992: Part 1-1: 2008 Eurocode 2:
Design of concrete structures: General rules
and rules for buildings. British Standards
Institution, Milton Keynes.

4. de Rooij, M. R. and Polder, R. B. (2004).
What Diffusion Coefficient is used for
Chloride Diffusion Modeling? In Advances
in Concrete through Science and Engineering.
RILEM International Symposium, March.




























5. Dias, W. P. S. (1994). Structural
Appraisal of Reinforced Concrete
Buildings from In-Situ Material
Properties - Some Issues and Insights.
Transactions, Institution of Engineers, Sri
Lanka, pp. 129-145.

6. Dias, W. P. S. (2003). Useful life of
Buildings. University of Moratuwa,
Moratuwa, June.
http://www.slaasmb.org/USEFUL
LIFE OF BUILDINGS.doc. Accessed
23/03/2012.

7. Dias, W. P. S. and Jayanandana, A. D.
C. (2003). Condition Assessment of a
Deteriorated Cement Works. ASCE
Journal of Performance of Constructed
Facilities. Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 188-195.

8. Dias, W. P. S. and Sivasubramaniyam, S.
(1989). Assessment of Floor Slabs in the
Bandaranaike Wing of the Colombo
General Hospital. Engineer (Sri Lanka).
September, pp. 27-36.

9. Richardson, M. G. (1988). Carbonation of
Reinforced Concrete: Its Causes and
Management. Citis, London.

10. Roy, S. K., Northwood, D. O. and Poh,
K. B. (1996). Effect of Plastering on the
Carbonation of a 19 year old Reinforced
Concrete Building. Journal of
Construction and Building Materials, Vol.
10, No. 4, pp. 267-272.




ENGINEER 7
1 ENGINEER

Potential and Viability of Rice Husk Based Power
Generation in Sri Lanka

Asanka S. Rodrigo and Shantha Perera

Abstract: Due to intense fuel dependency on energy production in the world, cost of energy is
now heavily depends on the prices of fossil fuels. Most of the countries in the world are suffering due
to this and Sri Lanka is no exception. It is in this context promotion of biomass, as a renewable source,
is so vital to the country. Rice being the staple food of the country as well as the crop with highest land
area under cultivation, rice husk (RH) generated in paddy processing was found to have a significant
potential in power generation. This paper investigates the possibility of using rice husk as a viable
source of power generation in Sri Lanka. It is clearly seen that there is a significant potential in the
districts of Ampara, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and Kurunegala for power generation using rice
husk. It was found that 30% of excess RH can be exploited for power generation with an annual
energy potential of 180 GWh. This potential can be exploited by (1) Commercial scale RH power
plants, (2) Small scale power plants under net metering scheme and (3) Off grid RH power plants.

Keywords: Rick husk, power generation, viability, gasification, combustion.


1. Introduction

Sri Lankas energy sector has been ailing for the
last two decades due to its excessive
dependency on petroleum and lack of diversity
in energy sources in the energy supply mix. In
year 2011, the primary energy share in Sri
Lanka was 46% from biomass, 42% from
petroleum, 12% from Hydro and rest from the
non-conventional renewables [1, 2]. Initially,
almost entire electricity requirement of the
country was met by hydropower whilst gradual
increase in demand for electricity during the
last decade of the 20
th
century shifting
electricity generation more towards thermal
power.

There are no proven fossil fuel resources in Sri
Lanka. Therefore, there is a high emphasis on
introducing non-conventional renewable
sources to the electricity sector. Having realized
this fact, the government of Sri Lanka set a
target of achieving 10% of electricity demand
from non-conventional renewable energy
sources by 2015 as set out in the national energy
policy of Sri Lanka [3]. It is expected to connect
feasible renewables to national grid as
distributed generators, which can also be used
to optimize the network use [4]. Biomass has
been identified as one of the most potential
sources of renewable energy for power
generation in Sri Lanka [3]. At present, biomass
is confined to domestic cooking and to some
industrial thermal applications.

In Sri Lanka, rice being the staple food of the
country as well as the crop with highest land
area under cultivation, produces substantial
quantity of rice husk (RH) as a waste product in
paddy processing. Part of RH produced is used
as a source of thermal energy in a few
applications while the balance is burnt or
dumped in the open air, causing a lot of
environmental hazards. If this excess RH can be
exploited for power generation that can be used
to displace part of oil used in power generation
and can add more security to energy supply.

RH is converted to energy using different
technologies such as direct combustion, co-
firing, gasification, pyrolysis, and anaerobic
digestion [5]. However, the two most proven
and common technologies are the direct
combustion and the gasification [5, 6, 7]. Most
of todays biomass power plants are direct-fired
systems where the biomass fuel is burnt in a
boiler to produce high-pressure steam, which is
used to power a steam turbine driven power
generator.


Eng. (Dr.) Asanka S. Rodrigo, Ph.D., M.Sc.(Eng),
B.Sc.Eng.(Moratuwa), MIEEE, MIEE, AMIE(Sri Lanka),
Senior Lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering,,
University of Moratuwa.
Eng. Shantha Perera, M.Sc., B.Sc.Eng.(Moratuwa), CEng,
MIE(Sri Lanka), Chief Engineer, Ceylon Electricity Board.
ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXVI, No. 04, pp. [9-17], 2013
The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka
ENGINEER 9

ENGINEER 2
Gasification is another commonly used option
that can be used to generate electricity using
RH. This technology is now widely being used
in rice growing countries for driving small scale
power plants of the order of 10 kW- 100 kW,
though the technology can be used for higher
capacities of several Mega Watts [9, 10].

Therefore, RH is considered as one of the
potential sources of power generation in Sri
Lanka as it is renewable, sustainable and
indigenous, as the rice is the staple food of the
country as well as the crop with highest land
area under cultivation. Furthermore, RH is
considered as a waste material with negligible
commercial value at the moment. Since it being
a local fuel, it will provide financial benefits to
the local community as well. Therefore, the
main objectives of this study were to assess the
potential of rice husk based power generation
in Sri Lanka and to analyze the economics of
harnessing this resource.


2. Methodology
First, the paddy production data of the country
over last twenty years were collected and
analyzed to determine the potential of rice husk
production at national level. From the initial
investigations, highest RH generation districts
were identified by analyzing paddy production
capacity and milling capacity. As a case study,
one of the highest potential districts was
considered for detailed study. In order to
collect data pertaining to availability and
distribution of rice mills, their capacities and
average rice production, type of rice being
processed, a survey was conducted among the
rice mills in the selected district. During this
survey, data from 650 rice mills were collected
and 338 mills were identified as the mills that
have significant milling capacity. Using the
data, the maximum size of the RH based power
plant and the conversion technology to be used
are identified. Finally, a financial analysis for
the plant was performed to ensure the viability
of the power generation using RH. Even though
the case study was confined to a limited area of
the country, the results obtained were used to
assess the potential at the national level.


3. Paddy Cultivation in Sri Lanka
The total land area under paddy cultivation in
Sri Lanka is estimated to be about 870,000
hectares [8] at present and this is the highest
land area occupied by any single crop
accounting for almost 34% of total agricultural
lands in the country [10]. As paddy is a wetland
crop that needs a lot of water for its growth, it is
cultivated seasonally in Sri Lanka so that it gets
enough water from rainy seasons. The two
seasons in the year that the paddy is cultivated
are known as Maha and Yala which falls
during North-East monsoon (November to
February) and South-West monsoon (May to
September) respectively. Figure 1 shows the
seasonal variation of the paddy production in
Sri Lanka.


Figure 1- Paddy production in two seasons from
1952 to 2010 (Source: Paddy Statistics, Agriculture and
Environment Statistics Division, Department of Census
and Statistics-Sri Lanka [10])

Accordingly, it can be seen that production of
Maha season is almost double that of Yala
season. Since rice is the staple food of the
country, demand for rice remains almost
constant throughout the year. Therefore, paddy
is stored and released to the market as rice at a
constant rate. Rice production of the country
has increased from about 2.2 million tons to
about 4.5 million tons over a period of 20 years.
This clearly shows that there is a continuous
growth of paddy production in the country. In
order to find the paddy production trend in Sri
Lanka, paddy production data was fitted into a
trend line as shown in Figure 2.


Figure 2- Annual paddy production in
thousand tons from 1980 to 2010

0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
1
9
5
2
1
9
5
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)

Cultivation Year
Maha Season
Yala Season
R = 0.833
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
1
9
7
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)

Cultivation Year, t
ENGINEER 10

3 ENGINEER
It is clear that there is an increasing trend in
paddy production. After liberating the country
from 30 year long civil war, most of the paddy
lands which had been abandoned in the
Northern and the Eastern provinces are now
being added to paddy farming and this too will
have a considerable impact on the paddy
production in the future.


4. Availability of Rice Husk
The outer cover of paddy grain is called as the
RH which accounts for about 14%-27% of its
weight [11]. The gross energy content of the RH
can be determined using Husk to Paddy Ratio
(HPR) and calorific value (CV) of RH. CV of RH
has been reported by various research works to
be in the range of 12.1-15.2 MJ/kg [7, 12]. Sri
Lanka cultivates different variety of paddy.
HPR values for most common paddy verities
are given in Table 1. Since HPR varies between
18% and 23% for different varieties of paddy,
an average value of 20% was taken for the
future analysis. Similarly, average CV value of
13.6 MJ/kg is considered for the analysis.

Table 1- Husk to Paddy Ratio values of
common local paddy varieties
Paddy Variety HPR
H4 0.1972
BG 3-5 0.1816
Podiwee A8 0.2166
Pachchaperumal 0.2065
BW 78 0.2274
BG 400-1 0.2012
LD125 0.2300
BG33-2 0.1898
BW 170 0.2170
MI 329 0.2045
(Source: National Cleaner Production Centre, Sri Lanka
[11])

Even though paddy is cultivated all over the
country, paddy is not grown at same scale
everywhere. It was found that Ampara,
Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura and Kurunegala
districts show a greater potential due to their
higher production compared to the rest of the
areas in the country (see Figure 3). However,
paddy production is not the only indicator that
shows the real RH availability; instead the
paddy processing/milling capacity of each
district will be a better criterion. Table 2 shows
the milling capacity of highest paddy
production districts.

Figure 3- Annual Average Paddy Production
in Different Areas (Year 1999 to 2010) (Source:
Paddy Statistics, Agriculture and Environment Statistics
Division, Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka
[10])

Table 2- Milling Capacity of Higest Paddy
Production Districts
No. of Mills
Milling Capacity
(kg/Day)
N
o
t

f
u
n
c
t
i
o
n
i
n
g

T
o
t
a
l

<
1
0
0
0

1
0
0
0
<

C

2
5
0
0

2
5
0
0
<

C

5
0
0
0

5
0
0
0
<

C

8
0
0
0

<
8
0
0
0

Ampara 9 4 8 11 55 3 90
Polonnaru
wa 28 30 40 19 27 13 157
Apura 16 18 27 26 20 6 113
Hambanto
ta 2 2 3 11 28 2 48
Kurunegal
a 2 10 15 6 4 0 37

By considering both production and milling
data, it was found that Ampara, Polonnaruwa,
Anuradhpura and Hambantota were identified
as the districts with highest potential. Even
though the paddy production is higher in
Kurunegala district, milling capacity appears to
be comparatively low where the harvest is
taken away to another part of the country for
milling.

As there were practical limitations in collecting
required data island wide, Polonnaruwa was
selected for detailed case study, since it is the
second highest districts in paddy production as
well as a leading area of paddy milling.
Ampara, the highest paddy production district,
was not selected for the case study due to the
lack of data collectors available in the district.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
A
M
P
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s

ENGINEER 11

ENGINEER 4
During the survey, data from 650 rice mills
were collected. Out of these mills, data from 338
mills which are considered as mills with
significant milling capacity (higher than 2
tons/month) were analysed. Table 3 shows the
details of selected mills.

Table 3- Rice mills in Polonnaruwa
categorized on capacity.
Scale Capacity
(tons/month)
No. of
Mills
Output
(Mt.)
Small 10 191 10033
Medium >10 and 100 94 46359
Large > 100 53 243750
Total 338 300142

Even though, paddy mills are scattered all over
the district, it was found that most of the large
mills are around Kaduruwela and Minneriya
whilst very small portion of mills lying in and
around Medirigirya area. RH production in
year 2010 was found as shown in Figure 4.


Figure 4- Rice husk production [in Mt] in
different areas of Polonnaruwa in 2010

RH in the district was found to be used in
different applications. Among those
applications, (a) paddy boiling and drying
(55%), (b) brick kilns (16%), (c) poultry farms
(5%) and (d) sales for other applications like
tobacco curing, bakeries and as a fertilizer in
agriculture (2%) are identified as the key
applications and 22% of excess RH is left in the
district after using RH for different other
applications.

5. Power Generation Potential in
Polonnarauwa District
RH is used for most of the activities without
any financial transaction. Considering the RH
production of year 2010, minimum potential of
the Polonnaruwa district can be calculated as
follows;
Total RH production in
year 2010
- 109,480 Mt

Excess RH left (22% of total
RH production)
- 24,086 Mt

It was assumed that the total RH quantity left
can be tapped for power generation, annual
electricity generation potential can be
calculated by taking CV as 13.6MJ/kg and
Conversion efficiency as 15%.
Then the annual electricity generation
(Potential) - 13.65 GWh

If about 60% of this potential can be tapped, the
minimum capacity of the power plant that can
convert this potential into electricity is about 1
MW at 90% plant factor.

5.1 Possible Conversion Technology.
Even though there are several technologies
available for biomass conversion, direct
combustion and gasification are the two widely
used technologies for RH conversion.
Gasification is widely used for small-scale
power plants because of its higher efficiency
low cost and simple operation. But this
technology is not hassle free due to producer
gas produced in gasification contains lots of
impurities like tar, ash particles and dust. Gas
cleaning is therefore an essential requirement,
when using gasification technology for power
generation. Therefore, power plants driven by
gasification technology require more
maintenance.

Compared to gasification, direct combustion is
more efficient and easy to apply for
cogeneration also. However, this method
requires higher investments. Considering
difficulties in maintenance and gas cleaning in
gasification, direct combustion with steam cycle
is selected as the preferred and used for
financial analysis of this study.

6. Financial Analysis.
Even though there is enough fuel in
Polonaruwa to run a power plant of 1 MWe,
this resource can only be tapped, provided such
power plants are commercially viable.

6.1 Capital cost of the project
Capital investment of this project includes costs
associated with all the plant and equipment,
lands, buildings, utility services, project
management, design and consultancy,
construction and installation works and
approvals etc,. Project cost of number of
biomass power plants (recently constructed) of
the capacity ranging from 1 MW to 10 MW
were collected and their capital investment
were analyzed. This analysis revealed that
capital cost per kW of most of these power
plant falls within the range of 1000 US$ - 1500
ENGINEER 12

5 ENGINEER
US$ [6]. Further, it was found that per kW
capital cost of most of the power plants
constructed in this region (in Asia using Asian
equipment ) were closer to 1000 US$ while the
same for other power plants in Europe and
America remained closer to 1500 US$ margin or
above. Therefore the capital cost of this plant
was assessed on the basis of 1250 US$/kW
which is the middle value of the above range.
Accordingly, capital cost of this power plant
was estimated to be LKR 143.75 million
(Exchange rate was taken as 1 US$ = 115 LKR).

6.2 Fuel cost of the power plant
In Polonnaruwa district, more than 70% of the
RH produced was found to be used for
different applications. From the balance, very
small fraction is sold and the remainder is
excess. Due to prevailing low demand, this
excess RH has no commercial value and even
taking away of this excess RH free of charge
from mills is most welcome by millers as
disposal is a problem to them. However, if a
real demand arises, this situation can change
and easily a firm price can be set for RH.
Moreover, if RH is transported there will be an
additional cost on top of RH price. As per the
information received from the survey, it was
found that cost of RH per kg at a site ranges
from LKR 1.70 to LKR 3.00 depending on the
distance of transportation. Considering RH
price plus handling and transportation charges,
per kg cost of RH was assumed to be LKR 3.00
with yearly escalation of 3% for this analysis.

6.3 Operation and maintenance (O&M) cost
Different literature gives varying values for
O&M cost of biomass power plants. From the
records of power plants which are in operation,
annual O&M cost found to be within the range
of 3% to 7% of capital investment with 5 %
yearly escalation [14]. Therefore annual O&M
cost was taken as 5 % of capital cost with 5%
escalation.

6.4 Debt /equity ratio of the capital investment
Since Sri Lanka is new to biomass power
generation field and success of this kind of
projects is not yet proven, 70/30 typical debt
equity ratio may not be achieved. Therefore, it
was assumed that 60/40 debt-equity ratio is
achievable for this kind of power plant.

6.5 Finance cost and loan repayment period
It was found that the typical interest rate of
project financing schemes of the local banking
sector is around 12% per annum for a period of
six years.
6.6 Tax and incentives
Income tax of 28% is levied by the Inland
Revenue for local investments and as per the
new tax regime of 2012 certain tax concessions
are offered to local investors in order to
promote private investments within the
country [15]. Under this, a period of tax holiday
is granted depending on the type and the scale
of the investment. The projects with investment
between LKR 100-200 million fall into medium
scale category where this quantum of
investment is eligible for five-year tax holiday.
However, renewable power projects are not
listed under this category in Sri Lanka. Even
though it is not clear, whether the renewable
energy investments qualify for a tax holiday,
depending on the quantum of investment it
was assumed that five-year full tax holiday will
be granted for this type of projects, because the
countrys energy policy is to promote
renewable power generations.

6.7 Returns of the project
The direct return of this power plant will be the
revenue generated from the electricity sale. The
expected revenue from the power plant can be
estimated using prevailing tariff published by
the Public Utility Commission of Sri Lanka
(PUCSL) under Standardized Power Purchase
Agreements (SPPA) [16]. Under this scheme, a
developer can choose one from the two tariff
options available. Under option I, three tier
tariff is declared while two component out of
three in this tariff subject to yearly escalation.
Option 2 is a flat tariff with no escalation at all
allowable during the first 20 years. For the
baseline case analysis, option 2 of the tariff, that
is 17.71 LKR/kWh, was considered. Other than
that, there can be indirect returns through clean
development mechanism (CDM) benefits and
ash sale. However, for this analysis these
indirect returns have not been considered.

Financial analysis for this conceptual power
plant was performed considering different cash
flows for a period of 20 years. Table 4 shows the
summary of the analysis.

Based on above analysis project IRR and equity
IRR was found as 34.2% and 56.2% respectively
for the baseline case while simple payback
period comes to 2 years 8 months. Higher IRR
values plus short payback period indicate that
implementation of a 1 MW RH based power
plant is financially viable in Polonnaruwa
district.


ENGINEER 13

ENGINEER 6
Table 4- Key Figures of Financial Analysis.
Capacity of the Power
Plant
1 MWe
Plant factor 90%
Expected energy export (
90% of total)
7.0956
GWh/year
Life span 20yrs
Capital cost( @1250
US$/kW)
LKR 143.75
million (@115
LKR/US$)
Tariff ( Option 2 of
SPPA)
LKR 17.71
Expected annual
revenue
LKR 103.10
million
Debt/Equity ratio 60/40
Depreciation period 20yrs
Fuel consumption( @ 40
tons/day)
13,140
tons/year
Fuel Cost( @ 3.00
LKR/kg)
LKR 39.42
million
Escalation of fuel
cost/year
3%
O & M cost ( 5% of
capital)
LKR 7.19
million
Escalation of O&M
cost/year
5%
Cost of capital 12%
Loan repayment period 6 years
Tax/ tax holiday 28% / 5 years
Discount rate 15 %
Project internal rate of
return (PIRR)
34.2%
Equity internal rate of
return (EIRR)
56.2%
Simple payback period
2 years and 8
months


However, at implementation stage the values
taken can be changed, giving rise to different
result. Hence, sensitivity of this project was
checked as follows by varying the critical
components in the cash flow. The behavior of
Pooled Internal Rate of Return (PIRR) and
Economic Internal Rate of Return (EIRR) under
seven cases, were examined and summarized in
Table 5.





Table 5- Summary of sensitivity analysis
Case Description PIRR EIRR
1 If tariff option I is
selected in SPPA as
against option II
32.0% 49.4%
2 If capital cost is
based on 1500
US$/kW(Capital-
172.5MRs)
26.3% 39.1%
3 If the plant factor
drops to 0.8 from
0.9 in the baseline
case
31.5% 48.2%
4 If fuel price
escalates 5% as
against 3% in the
baseline case
32.2% 53.7%
5 If O&M cost is 7%
of capital as against
5% in the baseline
case
31.6% 50.9%
6 If fuel price is 4
LKR/kg as against
3 LKR/kg in the
baseline case
22.3% 32.1%
7 If no tax holiday is
offered as against 5
yrs in the baseline
case
27.4% 39.9%

Results of the sensitivity analysis further shows
that even under adverse conditions, the project
is financially robust.

7. Surplus RH availability at country
level
It was recorded that 50% of the paddy has been
found to be milled in commercial scale in
bigger mills while the balance is milled by the
farmers for themselves in small mills [11].
When these facts are summed up with the
annual paddy production, surplus RH
availability of the country was found as 30% of
total RH production. This is the excess without
any use which can be used to generate
electricity with an annual energy potential of
180 GWh.

8. Harnessing RH Power Generation
Potential in the Country
Even though it was estimated that there is a
potential of 180 GWh for power generation
using RH, harnessing entire above potential
may not be viable as a part of this RH comes
from lesser known districts of paddy
production in the country. Therefore, setting up
of RH power plants in these districts has to be
ENGINEER 14

7 ENGINEER
ruled out due to shortage of fuel as well as
collection difficulties. Hence, three different
models in setting up of RH power plant were
identified that can ensure maximum usage of
RH for power generation. They are (1)
Commercial scale RH power plants, (2) small
scale power plants under Net Metering Scheme
and (3) Off grid RH power plants.

8.1 Commercial scale RH power plants:
Commercial scale grid connected RH power
plants are the most welcome option when
considering the current power situation in the
country. In order to promote this kind of
renewable energy power plants, the PUCSL has
formulated an attractive tariff system with LKR
14.53 per kWh for biomass based power plants
[16]. If RH power plants of this scale (order of
several MW) are to be set up in the country, it is
required to ensure that there are sufficient
stocks of RH to drive such power plants
throughout the year. To be more precise, there
has to be considerable number of commercial
scale paddy mills in the vicinity of a RH power
plant of this scale to keep it running throughout
the year. It was found that the Polonnaruwa
district shows a potential of 1 MW power plant
at viable scale. When looking at the paddy
production in the country at district level and
the current level of utilization of RH in the
country, possibility of setting up RH power
plants of the scale of several MW (exceeding 2
MW) seem to be far more remote. However,
paddy production data of Ampara,
Anuradhapura and Kurunegala also show that
there is a substantial potential of setting up RH
power plant of the capacity ranging from 1MW
to 2 MW in these districts. But, the exact
capacity can only be confirmed only after doing
a survey on these districts to ensure availability
of surplus RH and the viability of collection of
the same.

8.2 Small scale power plants under Net
Metering Scheme
For commercial scale power generation
mentioned above, RH is more feasible to be
collected from commercial rice mills as RH is
available in bulk at such mills with guaranteed
supply over a long period. Hence, RH from
other mills (medium and small scale) will be
left for being exploited in small-scale power
plants in the range of 30kW to 40kW. Results of
this study done for Polonnaruwa district, show
that the 80% of total mills in the district are
medium and small scale. Even in other areas of
paddy cultivation, this proportion may remain
same due to limitation of large mills in the
country. RH produced in these mills can be
used to generate electricity for captive power
requirements of these mills while any surplus
electricity being exported to the national grid
under the Net Metering Scheme introduced by
the Ministry of Power and Energy. According
to this scheme, any consumer with an electricity
supply below the contract demand of 42 kVA is
eligible to connect his renewable energy facility
to national grid and thereby qualify to pay only
for net energy consumption [3]. Therefore, mills
which fall into the category less than 42 kVA
electricity demand have a very high potential of
developing RH power plant up to the installed
capacity of 42kVA as fuel is available right
there and of totally free of charge. Table 6
shows a financial analysis performed on 35 kW
RH fired power plant operated under Net
Metering Scheme by a rice miller.

Table 6- Financial Analysis of 35 kW plant
under Net Metering.
Capacity of the Power
Plant
35 kWe
Plant factor 67% (16 hrs/day)
Expected energy
export ( 90% of total)
184.88 MWh/year
Life span 10 yrs
Capital cost( @1000
US$/kW)
LKR 4.03 million
(@115 LKR/US$)
Tariff ( under
Industrial category)
LKR 12.08 (10.50
+ 15% fuel
surcharge)
Expected annual
revenue
LKR 2.23 million
Debt/Equity ratio 60/40
Depreciation period 20 yrs
Fuel consumption( @
1.11 tons/day)
365 tons/year
Fuel Cost Free
Escalation of fuel
cost/year
5%
O & M cost ( 10 % of
capital)
LKR 0.4 million
Escalation of O&M
cost/year
5%
Cost of capital 12%
Loan repayment
period
6 years
Tax/ tax holiday No tax
Discount rate 15 %
Project internal rate of
return (PIRR)
52.07%
Equity internal rate of
return (EIRR)
89.69%
Simple payback period
2 years and 1
months
ENGINEER 15

ENGINEER 8
This shows that this option is very attractive to
the small and medium scale rice millers.
However, most of these rice millers are
ordinary people with less technical knowledge.
Therefore, it is necessary to promote this option
among rice miller by providing necessary
technology and financial support.

8.3 Off grid RH power plants
At present, the electrification level of the
country stands around 90% [2]. But, still there
are some areas in the country with low
electrification and most of these areas are
remote places. Powering paddy growing areas
without grid electricity such as remote villages
in Ampara, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa
by means of small off grid internal combustion
engine driven power plants of the capacity of
30 kW-40 kW with RH gasifiers would be a
viable option.


9. Discussion
According to the data collected in this study,
annual average paddy production of the
country was found to be around 4 million
metric tons. If assumed that entire paddy
production is processed into rice, this much of
paddy can produce about 800,000 metric tons of
RH per annum with gross energy content of
10,880 pJ. But, in real terms harnessing this
much of energy from RH is not at all possible
due to low efficiencies associated with
converting RH into energy. If it is assumed that
conversion ratio of 20% is achievable, then total
net energy potential of RH per annum comes to
1,632 pJ. Tapping this energy again in mass
scale becomes challenging as the viability of
using RH for energy production has other
constrains such as collection and transportation
difficulties as well as supply chain issues.

According to the case study performed on
Polonnaruwa district, about 22% of RH was
found to be left for exploitation in Polonnaruwa
district as that portion was surplus after using
the balance for above mentioned applications.
However, the excess RH level is not uniform all
over the country due to variation in use of RH
for different application from area to area. It
was found that, about 50%-70% of RH
produced in parboiled rice producing mills
goes into paddy parboiling and drying within
the same mills. Since paddy parboiling and
drying is the number one application of RH,
this has become the critical factor in deciding
the surplus RH availability of an area or a
district.
It was estimated that about 30% of excess RH
can be easily exploited for power generation in
Sri Lanka with an annual energy potential of
180GWh. It was further revealed that the
harnessing this resource for power generation
is viable under three different option in Sri
Lanka namely (1) Commercial scale RH power
plants, (2) Small scale power plants under Net
Metering Scheme and (3) Off grid RH power
plants. However, it is understood that due to
lack of technical knowledge and financial
capability, still RH based power generation is at
under exploited status.

Therefore, the key players like ministry of
power and energy, Sri Lanka Sustainable
Energy Authority and Public Utilities
Commission of Sri Lanka should take a fresh
initiative to shed light on the issues that have
hampered harnessing this resource for power
generation and find lasting solution to such
problems. Among such issues, prominence
should be given to following.

Most potential developers of this resource are
rice millers themselves. But, their awareness on
this kind of power generation is very poor.
Hence, an awareness campaign on different
aspects of RH power plants has to be launched
among the prospective rice millers and other
interested parties.

Capital investment must be a critical factor that
hampers such projects in the country. If
financing is not made to such projects by the
lending agencies, that will be a major stumbling
block to the implementation of such projects.
Therefore, the government should come
forward to provide financial assistance to
prospective RH power plant developers
through state banks at least till such power
plants are popularized in the country.

Tax incentive for renewable power projects are
now confined to large scale projects with capital
exceeding Rupees 300 million [15]. For
prospective developers of RH power plants,
this ceiling would be too high to get eligible for
the current tax concession. (Existing potential in
the country is not high enough to put up RH
power plants with capital more than Rupees
300 million). Therefore, the government should
look at this seriously and need to include tax
concession for projects of this magnitude too.
The government should encourage more R&D
works towards rice husk usage for power
generation.

ENGINEER 16

9 ENGINEER
Usage of RH for non-energy application should
be discouraged while introducing alternative
sources for such applications.


10. Conclusion
Based on the analysis presented in this paper
the RH based power generation in Sri Lanka is
viable with substantial financial return. Most
potential developers of this resource are rice
millers. But, this resource is not yet exploited
due to their lack of awareness on this kind of
power generation and lack of financial support.
Key players like ministry of power and energy,
Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority and
Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka should
take initiative to harness this resource for
power generation.


References

1. Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority, Sri
Lanka Energy Balance 2010:An Analysis of
Energy Sector Performance.
2. Ceylon Electricity Board, Statistical Digest 2010.
3. Ministry of Power and Energy Government of
Sri Lanka, National Energy Policy and Strategies
of Sri Lanka, 2010.
4. Rodrigo, A. S., Wijayatunga, P. D. C., Pricing of
Embedded Generation: Incorporation of
Exernalities and Avoided Network Losses,
Energy Conversion and Management, Vol 48, No. 8,
August 2007, pp 2332-2340.
5. Brown, G., Hawkes, A. D., Bauen, A., Leach, M
A, Biomass Applications, Centre for Energy
Policy and Technology, Imperial College, London
UK.
6. Oliveira, M. O., Neto, J. M., Inocencio, M. C.,
Ando Junior, O. H., Bretas, Perrone, A. S. O. E.,
Viability Study for Use of Rice Husk in
Electricity Generation by Biomass, Proceedings
of International Conference on Renewable Energies
and Power Quality (ICREPQ12), Santiago de
Compostela (Spain), 28th to 30th March,2012.
7. Balat, M., Balat, M., Krtay, E., Balat, H., Main
Routes for the Thermo-Conversion of Biomass
into Fuels and Chemicals: Part 2: Gasification
Systems, Energy Conversion and Management,
Vol 50, No. 12, December 2009, pp. 31583168.
8. Dasappa, S., Paul, P. J., Mukunda, H. S., Rajan,
N. K. S., Sridhar, G., Sridhar, H. V., Biomass
Gasification Technology A Route to Meet
Energy Needs, Current Science- Special section:
Application of S&T to rural areas, Vol 87, No. 7,
October 2004, pp. 908-916.
9. Zhang, L., Xu, C., Champagne, P., Overview of
Recent Advances in Thermo-Chemical
Conversion of Biomass, Energy Conversion and
Management, Vol 51, No. 5, May 2010, pp. 969-
982.
10. Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka,.
http://www.agridept.gov.lk/index.php/en/cro
p-recommendations/808, Visited January 11,
2013.
11. National Cleaner Production Center, Sri Lanka,
Project on Converting Waste Agricultural
Biomass to an Energy /Material Resource;
2010.
12. Agriculture and Environment Statistics Division,
Department of Census and Statistics-Sri Lanka,
http://www.statistics.gov.lk/agriculture/Padd
y%20Statistics/PaddyStats.htm, Visited
November 25, 2012.
13. Kapur, T., Kadpal, T. C. and Garg, H. P.,
Electricity Generation from Rice Husk in Indian
Rice Mills: Potential and Financial Viability,
Biomass and Bioenergy, Vol 10, No. 56, 1996, pp.
393403.
14. El-Kordya, M. N, Badra, M. A, Abeda, K. A,
Ibrahimb, M. A, Economical Evaluation of
Electricity Generation Considering
Externalities, Renewable Energy, Vol 25, No. 2,
February 2002, pp. 317328.
15. Board of Investment, Investment with Tax
Incentives (Section 17) www.investsrilanka.com,
Visited January 20, 2013.
16. Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka, Non-
Conventional Renewable Energy Tariff
Announcement, Purchase of Electricity to the
National Grid under Standardized Power
Purchase Agreements (SPPA), 2012.
ENGINEER 17
1 ENGINEER

Investigation on Efficiency of Repairing and
Retrofitting Methods for Chloride induced Corrosion
of Reinforced Concrete Structures

B.H.J. Pushpakumara, Sudhira De Silva and G.H.M.J. Subashi De Silva

Abstract: The corrosion of steel reinforcement bars is one of the major deterioration mechanisms of
Reinforced Concrete (RC) structures. Once the corrosion signs appear on the concrete surface, it may
be too late to prevent further corrosion. As a result, service life of RC structures would be reduced.
Use of repairing and retrofitting methods at the appropriate time will contribute enormous saving of
country budget, which is required for re-construction. This paper presents an experimental
investigation of repairing and retrofitting methods for the RC structures corroded due to chloride
attack. As repairing methods for delaminated areas of corroded RC structures, Fly Ash (FA) and Silica
Fume (SF) mixed mortars were developed and their performances were evaluated. As retrofitting
methods, Cathodic Protection (CP) and Electrochemical Chloride Extraction (ECE) were conducted.
ECE method is similar to CP method except the anode was covered by Ca(OH)2 layer. RC beams with
concrete of Grade 20 and reinforcement bars of 16 mm diameter were cast. Efficiency of both repairing
and retrofitting methods was evaluated by measuring free and total chloride ion concentration and
rust production. Efficiency of repairing and retrofitting methods was further evaluated by measuring
resistivity and Rapid Chloride Permeability Test (RCPT) and current measurement, respectively. FA
mixed mortar reduces the total chloride ion concentration near embedded steel reinforcement bars in
concrete by 40% while SF mixed mortar reduces 25% compared to OPC mortar. FA and SF mixed
mortars prevent the corrosion process by minimizing the diffusion of chloride ions into concrete. It
was found that CP method removed around 49% of total Cl
-
while ECE method removed around 69%
of total Cl
-
near the steel reinforcement of RC beams. Removing of total Cl
-
by ECE is grater (in 20%)
than that of by CP method. Chloride contaminated concrete that is still sound can be retrofitted by
using CP and ECE methods and the spalled and detached concrete can effectively be repaired by
using FA mixed mortars.

Keywords: Accelerated Corrosion Test Method (ACTM), chloride attack, corrosion, repairing mortars


1. Introduction

Sri Lanka is an Island surrounded by the Indian
Ocean and has large number of Reinforced
Concrete (RC) structures near the coastal belt.
These structures are suffered by chloride ion
induced corrosion; therefore the service life of
these RC structures may be reduced. When use
of the structures is critical, the authorities have
to use reconstruction measures. As a result,
considerable portion of countrys budget are
consumed for reconstruction of corroded RC
structures.


Figure 1 - Existing corroded bridge girders
The use of effective repairing and retrofitting
methods at right time helps to increase the
service life of RC structures, as result there will
be enormous saving of countrys budget. If a
RC structure is cracked or spalled or
delaminated (Figure 1), repairing of these
damaged areas must be done using mortars
before applying the retrofitting methods.


Eng. B.H.J. Pushpakumara, B.Sc. Eng. (Hons) (Ruhuna),
AMIE (Sri Lanka), Rresearch Student, Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering,
University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka
Eng. (Dr.) Sudhira De Silva, PhD (Saitama), M.Eng
(Saitama), PG. Dip (Strut.), B.Sc. Eng. (Hons) (Moratuwa),
C.Eng., MIE(Sri Lanka), Member-JCI (Japan), Senior
Lecturer, Department of Civil and Environmental
Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Ruhuna,
Sri Lanka,
Eng. Dr. (Mrs.) G.H.M.J. Subashi De Silva, PhD
(Saitama), PG. Dip (Strut.), B.Sc. Eng. (Hons) (Moratuwa),
C.Eng., MIE(Sri Lanka), Senior Lecturer, Department of
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka
ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXVI, No. 04, pp. [19-30], 2013
The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka
ENGINEER 19
ENGINEER 2
Most of repairing mortars minimize the
diffusion of chloride ions to steel
reinforcements by increasing the density of
repair mortar, producing chemical reaction
with chloride ions, applying water proof
materials and applying hydrophobic agents
with repair mortars (Jennifer et al. [8]). These
repair mortars could normally consist of more
than one type of cement (special cement, like
ultra-fine alumina cement), additions (silica
fume, slag or fly ash), aggregates (normal, light
weight and special type fillers), admixtures
(such as plasticizers), air-entrainers and
accelerators, polymer additives and fine
polymer fibers (Saraswathy and Song [11]). The
Fly Ash (FA) and Silica Fume (SF) are normally
used during concrete batching to increase the
density and strength. Therefore, FA and SF
would be effective admixtures to increase the
density of repairing mortars. According to
Detwiler et al. [3], the optimal replacement
percentage of cement (by mass) in concrete by
using SF is between 6% and 8%. The amount of
FA between 25% and 60% of cement weight
were normally used to produce sustainable,
high performance concrete mixtures (Aggarwal
et al. [1]).

Cathodic Protection (CP) is one of most
effective retrofitting method for the corroded
RC structures. CP works by using current, to
shift the potential of reinforcement steel in
negative direction. If the potential is shifted far
enough so that all of the steel reinforcements
behave as cathode, in which corrosion will be
terminated. An advantage of using CP method
as a retrofitting method for RC structures is
that only spalled and detached concrete need to
be repaired. Chloride contaminated concrete
that is still sound (i.e., no any visible external
damages like cracking and spalling) can remain
in place, because the CP system prevents
further corrosion and in fact, reduces the
concentration of chloride ions adjacent to the
protected reinforcement bars.

The Electrochemical Chloride ion Extraction
(ECE) method, which is another retrofitting
method, is similar to the CP method except that
the anode in ECE method is covered by a
chemical media. This chemical media absorbs
Cl
-
which approach towards the anode area
(i.e., concrete surface). ECE method is a new
technology and it accelerates the efficiency of
CP method by removing the Cl
-
effectively. The
chemical media can be any of alkaline solutions
which react with Cl
-
and produce chloride salt
of particular cation (Virmani and Clemena
[13]). Further, Ca(OH)2, which is an alkaline
solution, would react with Cl
-
and produce
CaCl2 salt. Formation of CaCl2 salt will prevent
the present of free Cl
-
near anode, which helps
to continue current path without restriction.
Therefore, Ca(OH)2 would be an effective
chemical media for ECE method.

Use of repairing and retrofitting methods at
right time, helps to increase service life of RC
structures which save the financial
expenditures of a country for reconstruction.
Therefore, it is an urgent need to introduce
suitable repairing and retrofitting methods for
RC structures in Sri Lanka.

The objectives of this study are;
To identify the performances of Fly Ash and
Silica Fume mixed mortars for corrosion
To determine and compare the performances
of Cathodic Protection and Electrochemical
Chloride ion Extraction methods
To identify the performances of Ca(OH)2 as a
new chemical media for Electrochemical
Chloride ion Extraction method

2. Methodology

Fly Ash (FA) and Silica Fume (SF) mixed
mortars were evaluated as mortars for
repairing spalled and detached RC structures.
Cathodic Protection (CP) and Electrochemical
Chloride ion Extraction (ECE) were evaluated
as retrofitting methods for chloride ion
contaminated concrete which is still sound.

2.1 Repairing Methods

Five RC beams were cast with concrete of
Grade 20 and reinforcement bar diameter of 16
mm. Three steel stirrups with diameter of 6 mm
were used in each steel reinforcement bar cage.
Size of the RC beams is 380 mm x 80 mm x 130
mm and the clear cover is 10 mm (Figure 2).











All the RC beams were immersed in water for
28 days of curing. After curing, RC beams were
covered by using mortar layers. The mortars
were prepared with the cement sand ratio of
Figure 2 - Schematic diagram of cross section of
RC test beam (Dimensions are in mm)
Mortar layer


Initial clear
cover

ENGINEER 20

3 ENGINEER
1:3. Surfaces of RC beams were chipped and 10
mm thick mortar layers were applied as the
final clear cover was to be 20 mm (Figure 2).
Cement in the mortar was partially replaced by
adding FA and SF on weight basis. Two beams
were treated with 50% of FA mixed mortar and
other two beams were treated with 10% of SF
mixed mortar. The remaining RC beam was
used as the control beam with 10 mm thick
OPC mortar layer.

After applying mortars, RC beams were again
immersed in water for 28 days of curing. After
28 days curing, the RC beams were subjected to
Accelerated Corrosion Test Method (ACTM)
until 0.2 mm corrosion crack width was
attained. Then, free and total chloride ion
concentration, rust production and resistivity of
the RC beams were determined. In addition,
chloride ion permeability through mortars was
evaluated by conducting Rapid Chloride
Permeability Test (RCPT).

2.2 Retrofitting Methods

Eight RC beams having the sizes of 400 mm x
100 mm x 150 mm were cast using Grade 20
concrete. Four steel reinforcement bars with
diameter of 16 mm were tied into a cage by
using three steel stirrups, whose diameter is 6
mm. Two wires were set to each beam for the
purpose of applying current to the beams
during experiments. The cover depth was kept
as 20 mm. All RC beams were immersed in a
water tank for 28 days of curing.

Corrosion in seven RC beams was accelerated
by performing ACTM until 0.2 mm corrosion
crack width was attained. The remained RC
beam was not subjected to ACTM and it was
labelled as before performing ACTM beam
and used as control beam to identify effect of
ACTM on corrosion. This control beam and one
beam out of seven corroded beams by using
ACTM were tested for free and total chloride
ion concentration and rust production
measurements in order to identify the effect of
ACTM on corrosion of RC beams.

Four RC beams (i.e., two beams for each
retrofitting method) were retrofitted by using
CP and ECE methods. Other two beams were
used as control beams. Three of these beams
(i.e., control beam and one beam from each
retrofitting method) were tested for free and
total chloride ion concentration and rust
production measurements in order to
determine effectiveness of each retrofitting
method. The remaining three beams; (i.e.,
control beam and one beam from each
retrofitting method) were again subjected to
ACTM. Resistivity of these three RC beams was
measured by using Resistivity meter (James
RM8000).

2.2.1 Cathodic Protection (CP) Method










Copper meshes were connected to 400 mm x
150 mm surface of each RC beam as shown in
Figure 3(a) and the mesh was covered by using
wet sags for the purpose of contacting the mesh
with concrete surface (Figure 3(b)). The current
was supplied by using a Direct Current (DC)
power supply unit; the positive terminal was
connected to copper mesh (i.e., anode) and the
negative terminal was connected to embedded
steel reinforcements which would be the
cathode. Since the higher current flow cause
hydrogen ion generation, current should be
maintained below 1 A (Jennifer et al. [8]).
Hydrogen ion generation can cause the brittle
failure of RC structures. Therefore, a current of
0.3 A was supplied initially. The current of 0.3
A could be supplied with the voltage of 11.5 V.
This lead to which the current was supplied to
the system with a constant voltage of 11.5 V
and was monitored with time until a negligible
current reading (current reading < 0.1 A) was
observed.

2.2.2 Electrochemical Chloride ion
Extraction (ECE) Method









In this method, copper meshes were connected
to RC beams as similar to that in CP method
presented in Section 2.2.1. The meshes were
covered by using hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2)
layer of 5 mm thickness (Figure 4(a)). Similar to
the CP method, electric system was prepared
and the current was supplied (Figure 4(b)). In
(a) (b)
(a) (b)
Figure 3 - CP method procedure (a) Copper
mesh was fixed (b) Wet sags were laid on
the beams
Figure 4 - ECE method (a) Ca(OH)2 layer
was laid on copper mesh (b) Experimental
ENGINEER 21
ENGINEER 4
ECE method also, the current was monitored
with time until a negligible reading (i.e., current
reading < 0.1 A) was observed.

2.3 Laboratory Experiments

2.3.1 Accelerated Corrosion Test Method












ACTM was based on the electrochemical
polarization principle. The corrosion of
embedded steel reinforcement bars were
accelerated as specified in FDOT 2000 [4] and
Sahmaran et al. [10]. The beams were immersed
in a sea water container where the Cl
-

concentration of sea water was improved up to
5% by adding NaCl. The NaCl concentration of
sea water sample was measured by using
titration against AgNO3 and was observed as
34.8 g/l. The current for the system was
supplied by using a DC power supply unit
(Figure 5(a) and 5(b)). The positive terminal of
the unit was connected to the embedded steel
reinforcement bars and the negative terminal
was connected to the copper bars which were
placed under the RC beams. Then, a small
current was supplied to the system with the
constant voltage (5 V). Finally, the corrosion
crack width was monitored with the time as
shown in Figure 5(d), until 0.2 mm corrosion
crack width was attained.

2.3.2 Free and Total Chloride ion
Concentration

Test samples were prepared by collecting the
concrete powder at nine locations of each RC
beam; three points of 400 mm x 150 mm
surface: centre point and two points (100 mm
away from the centre, at both sides). At each
point, samples were collected at 20 mm, 40 mm
and 60 mm depth. For each beam, the concrete
powder samples, which were collected at the
same depth, were mixed and separately sieved
through 75 m sieve pan. For each depth, two
samples of 5 g were prepared to measure total
and free chloride ion concentrations.

One sample (5 g) was mixed with 50 ml of 0.05
mol/l nitric acid (HNO3) and stirred for 10
minutes using a magnetic stirrer to extract acid-
soluble chlorides which were mostly equivalent
to total chloride ions. Free chloride ion
concentration was measured using the
remaining 5 g sample. The sample was mixed
with 50 ml distilled water and stirred for 10
minutes using a magnetic stirrer to extract
water-soluble chlorides ions which were mostly
equivalent to free chloride ions. Each solvent
sample was filtered through a filter paper.
Finally, all filtered samples were titrated
against silver nitrate (AgNO3) and the free and
total chloride ion concentrations were
measured.

2.3.3 Rust Production

Rust production of embedded steel
reinforcement was measured by using two
methods: rust weight and reduction in bar
diameter. The steel bars were carefully
removed from the beams and the bar surface
was scrapped in order to collect rust. The
weight of the collected rust was measured. The
bar diameter was measured by using a vernier
calliper and the reduction in bar diameter was
determined. The average values of rust weights
and reduction in bar diameter were calculated
to determine the rust production of steel bars.

2.3.4 Resistivity





Figure 6 - Procedure of measuring resistivity
(a) Preparation of 8 mm depth hole
(b) Preparation of additional hole at 50 mm
apart (c) Use of conductive gel (d) Placing
Resistivity meter (e) Measuring resistivity

Resistivity meter (James RM-8000), which is
capable in assessing the possible rate of
corrosion in reinforcement bars with the electric
(d)
(e)
(a)
(b) (c)
Figure 5 - (a) ACTM procedure (b) DC was
supplied (c) Corroded beam (d) Measuring the
crack width
(b) (c) (d)
(a)
RC specimens
5 V DC
supply unit
5% of Cl
-

solution
Copper
bars
ENGINEER 22

5 ENGINEER
resistivity measurement method, was used to
measure the internal corrosion level. Two holes
with the diameter of 6 mm and the depth of 8
mm, 50 mm apart (along the reinforcement
bar), were drilled on the surface of beam
(Figure 6(a)). The stainless steel template plate,
which was given with the equipment, was used
to identify the location of the additional holes
(Figure 6(b)). The two holes were filled with
dispenser conductive gel (Figure 6(c)). This was
necessary to create proper contact between
concrete and Resistivity meter probes, which,
was connected to the holes as shown in Figure
6(d). Resistivity (in k Ohms cm) was measured
and the possible corrosion rate (possible
corrosion rate for resistivity: <5 = very high, 5-
10 = High, 10-20 = Moderate to low and >20 =
Insufficient) of steel reinforcement bars was
determined by referencing the resistivity levels
provided with the Resistivity meter (Instruction
manual [9]).

2.3.5 Rapid Chloride Permeability Test









Rapid Chloride Permeability Test (RCPT) was
performed for FA mixed and SF mixed mortars
to evaluate permeability as specified in ASTM
C1202 (Ganesan et al. [5]). Twenty one mortar
cylinders (i.e., three cylinders for each mortar
percentage and three OPC mortar cylinders)
(Figure 7 (a)) having a diameter of 100 mm and
a thickness of 50 mm were cast by using 1:3
cement sand mortar; cement in the mortar was
partially replaced by FA and SF, in weight
basis, as summarized in Table 1.

Table1 - Admixture replacement level
Type of mortar
Admixture replacement
percentages (%)
Control (OPC) 0
Fly Ash (FA) 25, 50, 75
Silica Fume (SF) 5, 10, 15

After 90 days of curing, all the cylinders were
set to the RCPT experimental setup (Figure
7(b)). Two copper electrodes were connected to
terminals and the positive terminal was
immersed in NaOH solution (with possessed
normality of 0.3 N) reservoir while the negative
terminal was immersed in 3% of NaCl solution
reservoir. The cylinders were connected
between two reservoirs as shown in Figure 7(b).
A constant voltage of 60 V, DC was supplied to
the system and current across the cylinders
were recorded at 30 minute intervals over the
period of 6 hours. The total Charge Passed (CP)
through the specimen was computed by
Simpsons rule (Equation 1) as specified in the
ASTM C1202 (Ganesan et al. [5]).
CP = 9uu|I
0
+ 2I
30
+ 2I
60
+ 2I
t
+ + 2I
330
+ 2I
360
] - - - -(1)
where CP is total charge passed in coulombs, I0
is the initial current in Ampere (A) and It is
current in Ampere (A) at time t, measured in
minutes.

3. Results
3.1 Efficiency of Repairing Mortars

Efficiency of the repairing mortars was
investigated by free and total chloride ion
concentration, rust production, resistivity and
permeability and is presented in this section.

3.1.1 Free and Total Chloride ion
Concentration

Figures 8 and 9 show free and total Cl
-
concentration of RC beams, respectively. The
Cl
-
concentration was determined at four
different stages: before performing ACTM, after
performing ACTM for OPC, FA mixed and SF
mixed mortar laid RC beams.




















(a) (b)
Figure 7 - RCPT setup (a) Repair mortar
cylinders (b) RCPT experimental setup
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
20 mm 40 mm 60 mm
C
l
-


c
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n


(
k
g
/
m
3
)

Depth (mm)
Before performing ACTM
After performing ACTM for control beam
After performing ACTM for FA based beam
After performing ACTM for SF based beam
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
20 mm 40 mm 60 mm
C
l
-


c
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n


(
k
g
/
m
3
)

Depth (mm)
Before performing ACTM
After performing ACTM for control beam
After performing ACTM for FA based beam
After performing ACTM for SF based beam
Figure 8 - Free chloride ion concentration
Figure 9- Total chloride ion concentration
ENGINEER 23
ENGINEER 6

It was observed that free and total Cl
-

concentrations decreased with increasing depth
of the beam. This trend was common at all the
four stages. For all depth levels (i.e., 20 mm, 40
mm and 60 mm), total Cl
-
concentration was
higher than the free Cl
-
concentration.
Generally, Cl
-
concentration is greater after
performing ACTM compared to the
concentration before performing ACTM. After
performing ACTM, in repaired beams both free
and total Cl
-
concentrations were less than those
for the control beam. At 20 mm depth level,
after performing ACTM, the total Cl
-
concentration is 1.514 kg/m
3
for OPC mortar.
At the same depth, FA and SF mixed mortar
applied beams which were subjected to ACTM
simultaneously with the OPC mortar applied
beam, have lower Cl
-
concentrations: 0.97
kg/m
3
for FA mixed mortar and 1.14 kg/m
3
for
SF mixed mortar, respectively.

3.1.2 Rust Production

Rust weights and reduction in bar diameter of
repaired RC beams, which were tested after
performing ACTM, are shown in Table 2.

Table 2- Rust production
Inspection Stage
A
v
e
r
a
g
e


w
e
i
g
h
t

o
f

r
u
s
t

(
W
)

(
g
)

A
v
e
r
a
g
e

b
a
r

d
i
a
m
e
t
e
r

(

)

(
m
m
)

A
v
e
r
a
g
e


r
e
d
u
c
t
i
o
n

i
n

b
a
r

d
i
a
m
e
t
e
r

(

r
)

(
m
m
)

Initial condition 0 16 0
A
f
t
e
r

p
e
r
f
o
r
m
i
n
g

A
C
T
M


OPC mortar 7.8 13.57 2.43
FA mixed
mortar
1.76 15.81 0.19
SF mixed
mortar
3.64 14.75 1.25

It can be seen from Table 2 that, in the FA and
SF mixed mortar applied beams, the average
weight of rust and reduction in bar diameter
(after performing ACTM) were lesser values
compared to that of OPC mortar applied
beams. The rust production (rust weight (W)
and bar diameter reduction (r)) of beams
repaired with FA mixed mortar (W = 1.76 g and
r = 0.19 mm) was lower than that of the beam
repaired with SF mixed mortar (W = 3.64 g and
r = 1.25 mm).




3.1.3 Resistivity

Resistivity of RC beams (OPC, and 50% of FA
and 10% of SF mixed mortar applied) which
were subjected to ACTM is shown in Table 3.

Table 3- Resistivity of mortars
Mortar
condition
Average resistivity
(k Ohms cm)
OPC 1.8
50% of FA 12.0
10% of SF 9.05

It has been clearly seen that resistivity in the
OPC mortar applied beam was very much
lower (i.e., 1.8 k ohms cm) compared to that of
FA and SF mixed mortar applied beams (FA =
12.0 k Ohms cm and SF = 9.05 k Ohms cm). The
resistivity of beams repaired by FA mixed
mortar is slightly larger than beams repaired by
SF mixed mortar.

3.1.4 Rapid Chloride Permeability Test
Variation of current with time for the FA mixed
and SF mixed mortar cylinders is shown in
Figures 10 and 11, respectively.
















The current pass through the specimen
decreases with increasing both FA and SF
content in the mortars. This trend is clear from
25% to 75% of FA and from 5% to 15% of SF,
although the trend is not clear when increasing
FA content from 0% to 25% and SF content
from 0% to 5% in the specimen. The calculated
average charge passed (using Equation 1,
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0
3
0
6
0
9
0
1
2
0
1
5
0
1
8
0
2
1
0
2
4
0
2
7
0
3
0
0
3
3
0
3
6
0
C
u
r
r
e
n
t

(
A
)

Time (min)
Ctrl 25% FA
50% FA 75% FA
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0
3
0
6
0
9
0
1
2
0
1
5
0
1
8
0
2
1
0
2
4
0
2
7
0
3
0
0
3
3
0
3
6
0
C
u
r
r
e
n
t

(
A
)

Time (min)
Ctrl 5% SF
10% SF 15% SF
Figure 11- Current measurement of RCPT for
SF mixed mortar
Figure 10- Current measurement of RCPT for
FA mixed mortar
ENGINEER 24

7 ENGINEER
Figures 10 and 11) across the mortar cylinders
is shown in Figure 12.









The charge passed values decrease with
increasing of both FA and SF percentages. The
average charge passed across the mortar
cylinders cast by using mortar of having 75% of
FA and 15% of SF are 3873 C and 4278 C,
respectively. These values are lower compared
to OPC mortar cylinder (7518 C).

3.2 Efficiency of Retrofitting Methods

This section presents the efficiency of
retrofitting methods (CP and ECE) that were
evaluated by using chloride ion concentration,
rust production and resistivity of RC beams
and current passed through RC beams.

3.2.1 Free and Total Chloride ion
Concentration

Figures 13 and 14 show the free and total Cl
-

concentration, respectively, for the depth level
of 20 mm, 40 mm and 60 mm at the four stages.


















.



The free and total Cl
-
concentrations were
greater after performing ACTM. Both free and
total Cl
-
concentrations decreased with
increasing depth. Comparing Figures 13 and 14,
it can be clearly seen that for all depths, the
total Cl
-
concentration was higher than the free
Cl
-
concentration. For all depths, both Cl
-
concentrations were reduced after applying
retrofitting methods. At 20 mm depth, the total
Cl
-
concentration of control beam (non-
retrofitted), after performing ACTM, is 1.64
kg/m
3
while it is 0.831 kg/m
3
for the beam
retrofitted by the CP method and is 0.516
kg/m
3
for the beam retrofitted by the ECE
method. At the same depth level, the free Cl
-

concentration of control beam (non-retrofitted),
after performing ACTM, is 1.471 kg/m
3
while it
is 0.346 kg/m
3
for the beam retrofitted by the
CP method and is 0.25 kg/m
3
for the beam
retrofitted by the ECE method. The free and
total Cl
-
concentrations of beams with the
condition of before performing ACTM are 0.282
kg/m
3
and 0.41 kg/m
3
, respectively, at 20 mm
depth level.

3.2.2 Rust Production

Table 4 shows the average weight of the rust
production and reduction in bar diameter of
embedded steel reinforcements.

Table 4- Rust production
Inspection Stage
A
v
e
r
a
g
e

w
e
i
g
h
t

o
f

r
u
s
t

p
r
o
d
u
c
t
i
o
n

(
W
)

-

(
g
)

A
v
e
r
a
g
e

b
a
r

d
i
a
m
e
t
e
r


(

)

-

(
m
m
)

A
v
e
r
a
g
e

r
e
d
u
c
t
i
o
n

i
n

b
a
r

d
i
a
m
e
t
e
r

(

r
)

-

(
m
m
)

Initial condition 0 16 0
After performing
ACTM
3.5 15.56 0.44
After retrofitting by
CP method
4 15.48 0.52
After retrofitting by
ECE method
3.75 15.53 0.47
Control specimen
(without retrofitting)
4.28 15.41 0.59

The weight of the rust and the reduction in bar
diameter were lower for the beams retrofitted
with CP and ECE methods, compared with that
of control beams. There was a negligible
amount of rust production in retrofitted beams.
The rust (rust weight (W) and reduction in bar
diameter (r)) produced in beams treated by CP
Figure 12- Charge passed average value
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2
20 mm 40 mm 60 mm
C
l
-


c
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n


(
k
g
/
m
3
)

Depth (mm)
Before performing ACTM
After performing ACTM
After performing CP method
After performing ECE method
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2
20 mm 40 mm 60 mm C
l
-


c
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n


(
k
g
/
m
3
)

Depth (mm)
Before performing ACTM
After performing ACTM
After performing CP method
After performing ECE method
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
C
h
a
r
g
e

p
a
s
s
e
d


(
C
o
u
l
u
m
b
s
)

Figure 13- Free chloride ion concentration
Figure 14- Total chloride ion concentration
ENGINEER 25
ENGINEER 8
method (W = 4 g and r = 0.52 mm) were
greater than that in the beams retrofitted by
ECE method (W = 3.75 g and r = 0.47 mm). As
mentioned in the methodology, retrofitting
methods were applied on the corroded beams
(after performing ACTM). Therefore, rust is
already produced on the bar surface.
Comparing to after performing ACTM stage,
the rust production and reduction in bar
diameter of CP method (W = 0.5 g and r =
0.8 mm) and ECE method (W = 0.25 g and r
= 0.03 mm) are lesser than that of control beam
(W = 0.78 g and r = 0.15 mm).

3.2.3 Resistivity

Table 5 shows comparison of resistivity of
beams, retrofitted by using CP and ECE
methods.

Table 5- Comparison of resistivity
Beam description
Resistivity
(k Ohms cm)
Control beam 0.7
Beam retrofitted by CP 3.1
Beam retrofitted by ECE 4.5

From Table 5, it can be seen that the resistivity
of the control beam was 0.7 k Ohms cm, which
is significantly lower compared with the
resistivity of other beams: beam retrofitted by
CP method gives 3.1 k Ohms cm while beam
retrofitted by ECE gives 4.5 k Ohms. The
resistivity ofthe RC beam retrofitted by ECE
method was slightly higher than that of the RC
beam retrofitted by CP method.

3.2.4 Current

For CP method, the initial current reading was
0.3 A for the first mesh, 0.23 A for the second
mesh, and 0.16 A for the third mesh (the system
was not continued with replacing third copper
mesh after observing negligible current).
Therefore the total current reduction was 0.14
A. The total time for the beam retrofitted by CP
method was 31 days.

For ECE method, the initial current reading was
observed as 0.5 A. The initial current reading
for the second mesh was 0.29 A, and for the
third mesh it was 0.17 A (the system was not
continued with third mesh). The total current
reading reduction was determined as 0.33 A.
The total time for beam retrofitted by ECE
method was 23 days.


4. Discussion

According to the JSCE (2001), the critical Cl
-
concentration is 0.3 ~ 0.6 kg/m
3
(Veerachai et
al. [12]). Further, according to the JSCE (2001),
when the Cl
-
concentration exceeds 1.2 ~ 2.4
kg/m
3
, the corrosion incorporating micro-
cracks might be initiated (Veerachai et al. [12]).
Simply, when the Cl
-
concentration of RC
beams is higher than 0.6 kg/m
3
, the critical Cl
-
level was initiated (i.e., corrosion risk initiate)
and when it was 1.2 kg/m
3
, the corrosion is
initiated on embedded steel reinforcement. The
threshold Cl
-
concentration for onset corrosion
is considered as 1.2 kg/m
3
(Gunesekara et al.
[6]).

4.1 Repairing Mortar

Relatively high percentage of SF makes the
concrete expensive and causes the difficulties in
mixing and finishing. In the current study, 10%
of SF and 50% of FA were used in producing
mortars with high density and high strength,
while reducing the difficulties in mixing and
finishing. Further, 5%, 10% and 15% of SF and
25%, 50% and 75% of FA mixed mortars were
used to identify optimum level of admixture
percentages for reducing the Cl
-
diffusion,
which was investigated by using RCPT.

The most critical depth region related to
corrosion was considered as less than 20 mm
depth, because steel reinforcements were
embedded to the depth of 20 mm. The total Cl
-

concentration, at 20 mm depth level of OPC
mortar applied beam (1.514 kg/m
3
) (Figure 9) is
higher than threshold value of 1.2 kg/m
3
, hence
the beam was corroded. The total Cl
-

concentrations of FA and SF mixed mortar
applied beams (FA = 0.97 kg/m
3
and SF = 1.14
kg/m
3
) were less than the threshold value of
1.2 kg/m
3
, hence the corrosion risk is
minimized. The total Cl
-
reduction, at 20 mm
depth level, in the beam repaired with FA
mixed mortar was 0.544 kg/m
3
and in the beam
repaired with SF mixed mortar was 0.374
kg/m
3
(Figure 9). FA mixed mortar reduces Cl
-

concentration near embedded steel
reinforcement by 36%, while SF mixed mortar
reduces 25% of Cl
-
concentration. Therefore, FA
mixed mortar prevents the diffusion of Cl
-

effectively compared to SF mixed mortar.

After the 30 days period of ACTM, the
corrosion cracks (crack width > 0.2 mm) in OPC
mortar applied beam were observed. Micro
level corrosion cracks (crack width < 0.05 mm)
were observed in the beams repaired with SF
ENGINEER 26

9 ENGINEER
mixed mortar and there was no surface
corrosion crack in the beam repaired with FA
mixed mortar. These results imply that the RC
beam repaired by OPC mortar was totally
corroded, and the beams repaired with SF
mixed mortar was slightly corroded where the
beam repaired with the FA mixed mortar
seems to be free from the corrosion.

The rust production (both rust weight and
reduction in bar diameter) of OPC mortar
applied beam is higher value compared to FA
and SF mixed mortars applied beams (Table 2).
Further, rust production of FA mixed mortar
applied beam is negligible value (i.e., W = 1.76
g, r = 0.19 mm) compared to OPC mortar
applied beam (i.e., W = 7.8 g, r = 2.43 mm).
This implies that the OPC mortar applied RC
beam was continued corrosion while FA mixed
mortar prevents production of rust.

According to Table 3, possible corrosion rate of
OPC mortar (i.e., 1.8 k Ohms cm) applied beam
is very high (resistivity < 5 k ohms cm) while
that is high (resistivity between 5 to 10 k Ohms
cm) in the RC beams repaired by using 10% of
SF mixed mortar (i.e., 9.05 k Ohms cm) and
moderate to lower (resistivity between 10 to 20
k ohms cm) in the RC beams repaired by 50% of
FA based mortar (i.e., 12 k Ohms cm). These
results imply that the internal corrosion level of
the beams repaired by FA based mortar has
significantly reduced.

Charge passed through of 15% of SF and 75% of
FA mixed mortar are lower values compared to
that of OPC mortar (Figure 12). Therefore,
chloride ion diffusion through these mortars
(75% of FA and 15% of SF mixed mortars) is
lower compared to OPC mortar. Compared to
OPC mortar, 75% of FA mixed mortar reduces
the diffusion of Cl
-
through mortars by 48.5%
and 15% of SF mixed mortar reduces 43.1%.
The uses of FA and SF with mortars reduce the
diffusion of Cl
-
into concrete, which prevents
the corrosion.

The pozzolanic reaction in FA and SF converts
the calcium hydroxide in to more of the calcium
silicate hydroxide (CSH), thus increase the
strength which leading to reduce permeability.
Further, FA and SF have fine particles which
might have contributed to minimize the voids
in mortars. Therefore, the replacement of both
FA and SF admixtures increases the density of
mortars. As a result, FA and SF mixed mortars
effectively minimize the diffusion of Cl
-
ions,
moisture, oxygen and aggressive chemicals into
concrete compared to OPC mortar.
Considering the results of Cl
-
concentration,
rust production, resistivity and charge passed
values, the corrosion prevention performances
of FA mixed mortar is a high value compared
to SF mixed mortar. Jansen and Pratt [7]
showed, by using microstructure studies, that
the reaction product from the pozzolanic
reaction of FA was CSH (calcium silicate
hydrates) and CAH (calcium aluminate
hydrates), where the latter can give rise to
increased chloride binding capacity. With the
increase of SF amount, the producing of CAH
decreased which cause to decrease the binding
capacity. Therefore, FA mixed mortar
minimizes the diffusion of Cl
-
compare to SF
mixed mortar. In addition, coal power
generation has recently been established in Sri
Lanka and one of by-products of the coal power
plants is FA. Hence FA can be easily found in
Sri Lanka with minimum cost.

4.2 Retrofitting Methods

Before performing ACTM, both free and total
Cl
-
concentrations were less than the threshold
value of 1.2 kg/m
3
(Figures 13 and 14). After
performing the ACTM, free and total Cl
-

concentrations of all test beams were greater
than the threshold value of the Cl
-
concentration resulting to initiate corrosion.
After retrofitting, the total Cl
-
concentrations in
these beams reduced to a value less than the
threshold value. This implies that the applying
of retrofitting prevents or minimizes further
corrosion of RC beams by reducing Cl
-

concentration near to embedded steel
reinforcement bars.

Table 7- Percentages (%) of chloride ion
removed by retrofitting methods
D
e
p
t
h

(
m
m
)

Cl
-
concentrations as percentages (%)
CP method ECE method
Free Total Free Total
20 76.48 49.33 83 68.53
40 72.65 57.01 75.98 63.2
60 69.84 47.2 71.69 52.27

In the current experimental investigation, 20
mm depth level is the most critical level as the
clear cover thickness provided is 20 mm. In this
region, the ECE retrofitting technique removed
68.5% of total and 83% of free Cl
-
from the
corroded beams (i.e., after performing ACTM)
while the CP retrofitting technique removed
49.3% of total and 76.5% of free Cl
-
(Table 7).
Clemena and Jackson [2], have carried out ECE
method (Ca(OH)2 with H2O were used as
ENGINEER 27
ENGINEER 10
chemical media) on a 28-year old bridge deck
located in Arlington, Virginia and observed
similar results for free Cl
-
ion concentration
where ECE removes Cl
-
in concrete with about
75.8% of Cl
-
at the 6 to 19 mm depth, and 72.2%
of Cl
-
at the 19 to 32 mm depth. In their study,
ECE method was conducted using titanium
mesh (i.e., as anode) which is better than
copper mesh used in the current study.
However, use of copper mesh for the anode is
cost effective rather than use of titanium mesh.
Compared to the current study (Cl
-

concentration of corroded RC beam was 1.64
kg/m
3
at 0 to 20 mm depth), the bridge deck
was highly chloride contaminated (initial Cl
-

concentration was 4.97 kg/m
3
at 6 to 19 mm
depth). Therefore, it is easier to remove free Cl
-

ions from bridge deck. Further, in the previous
study (Clemena and Jackson [2]) ECE was
conducted for bridge deck over a long period
(58 days) while it was 23 days in the current
study. However, removal of Cl
-
is less (75.8%)
for bridge deck than that of the current study
(83%) and final Cl
-
concentration (after
performing ECE) of bridge deck was 1.2 kg/m
3
(which was equal to threshold value), while it
was 0.516 kg/m
3
in the current study. It seems
that conducting the ECE for bridge deck in-situ
condition and for current study in the
laboratory with less Cl
-
contamination
condition would cause the slight variation in
results for bridge deck and test beams.

When the current was supplied to the CP setup,
the steel reinforcement became cathode and the
chloride ions are redistributed away from the
steel bars and reached towards the copper
anode (at concrete surface area). This might
contribute to the reduction in chloride ion
concentration near the steel reinforcements. In
ECE retrofitting technique, the copper mesh is
covered by using chemical media (calcium
hydroxide) and the chloride ions which
approached towards the copper mesh are
removed by calcium hydroxide by producing
CaCl2. This might attribute to increase the
efficiency of removing chloride ions by the ECE
method compared to that of the CP method.

After retrofitting (CP and ECE methods), the
free Cl
-
concentration of test beams decreases
nearly down to the Cl
-
concentration of beams
observed at 28 days curing (Figure 13). The
retrofitting methods are based on the electrical
system and the free Cl
-
contributes directly to
conduct the current across concrete area.
Therefore, admittedly, the free Cl
-
are
redistributed from steel reinforcements and
reached towards the concrete surface area.
These free Cl
-
are removed by calcium
hydroxide layer by producing CaCl2. On the
other hand, free Cl
-
causes the corrosion of steel
reinforcement. The bonded chloride ions may
not contribute to the corrosion process.
Possibility of removing free chloride ions by
these retrofitting techniques is an advantage.

The weight of rust production and reduction in
bar diameter of retrofitted RC beams are lesser
compared to control RC beam (Table 4). This
implies that retrofitting methods contribute to
prevent further corrosion. The resistivity of all
RC beams (Control beams and retrofitted
beams) is lower than 5 k Ohms cm (Table 5),
implying the possible corrosion rate of all
beams is very high. Before retrofitting (CP and
ECE methods), RC beams were subjected to
ACTM in order to make sure the RC beams
were already corroded. After retrofitting, the
beams were again subjected to ACTM. This
allowed the Resistivity meter to measure the
resistivity at both corrosion stages: before
retrofitting and after retrofitting. The observed
corrosion rate was significantly high value,
possibly because the corrosion was accelerated
by conducting the ACTM. Further, considering
the measured values, control beam shows very
lower value, means it would be highly
corroded than other two beams.

The free Cl
-
conduct the current through the
concrete area, hence considering the current
distribution through retrofitted RC beams, the
free Cl
-
were redistributed away from the
embedded steel reinforcement (cathode) area
towards concrete surface area (copper mesh
anode). Therefore, the reduction in current of
ECE and CP methods implied the reduction in
Cl
-
concentrations. The efficiency of removing
chloride ion (based on the current reduction)
for CP method was 46.7%, while it was 66% for
ECE method. Time taken to remove Cl
-
by CP
method is around 31 days while it is around 23
days for the ECE method indicating that the
ECE method removes Cl
-
within shorter time
period compared to the CP method.

In both CP and ECE methods, the potential of
embedded steel reinforcement were shifted to
negative direction, making the steel
reinforcement became cathode with time. When
the steel reinforcement bars totally charge with
negative ions, further continuation of current
might help to produce hydroxyl ions (with the
presence of water and oxygen) near the
reinforcement bars, resulted in creating of
alkaline conditions. This leads to re-passivate
the steel reinforcements, produce iron oxide
ENGINEER 28

11 ENGINEER
(Fe2O3) film surrounding the steel
reinforcement bars, prevent the diffusion of
oxygen to steel bar area and hence prevent the
further corrosion. In addition, these retrofitting
methods help to redistribute the Cl
-
from
embedded steel reinforcement towards the
concrete surface. The Cl
-
which approached to
concrete surface is removed by calcium
hydroxide as producing calcium chloride
(CaCl2). The use of calcium hydroxide as
chemical media in ECE retrofitting method
cause to increase the efficiency of the method,
compared to CP method.

5. Conclusions

As repairing methods, Fly Ash (FA) and Silica
Fume (SF) mixed mortars were developed and
Cathodic Protection (CP) and Electrochemical
Chloride ion Extraction (ECE) were conducted
as retrofitting methods for corroded RC
structures. Efficiency of both repairing and
retrofitting methods was evaluated by
measuring free and total Cl
-
concentrations and
rust production. Efficiency of the methods was
further evaluated by conducting resistivity
measurements and Rapid Chloride
Permeability Test (RCPT) relevant to the
repairing mortars and current measurement
relevant to the retrofitting methods.

The FA and SF mixed mortars minimize the
corrosion of RC structures by preventing the
diffusion of Cl
-
into concrete. It was found that
the 50% of FA mixed mortar performs better
compared to the 10% of SF mixed mortar. With
the use of coal power generation, recently
established in Sri Lanka, FA can be easily found
with minimum cost, as one of by-product of the
coal power plants is FA. The CP and ECE
methods remove around 49% and 69% of total
Cl
-
, respectively. These retrofitting methods
prevent further corrosion of RC structures by
removing Cl
-
near the steel reinforcements and
producing alkaline conditions around the steel
bars which helps to form iron oxide film
around the steel bars. With ECE method,
calcium hydroxide helps to increase the
efficiency of the CP method process by nearly
20% with removing the Cl
-
approached towards
copper mesh area.

The spalled and delaminated areas of corroded
RC structures can be repaired by using FA
mixed mortars and the chloride contaminated
concrete that is still sound can remain in place
by using ECE method, effectively. The use of
calcium hydroxide as chemical media with ECE
method accelerates the performances of CP
method. Experimental investigation conducted
in this study confirmed that the use of both FA
based repair mortar and ECE retrofitting more
effectively help to prevent the chloride ions
diffusion into concrete and enhancing the
service life of structures.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to express their special thanks
to Research Grant of Transforming University
of Ruhuna to International Status (TURIS-2011)
for providing necessary funds and Faculty of
Engineering, University of Ruhuna for
providing technical assistance for carrying out
the research work presented in this paper.
Furthermore authors sincere thank goes to
Prof. Hiroshi Mutsuyoshi, Department of Civil
and Environmental Engineering, Saitama
University, Japan for providing necessary
experimental materials and technical guidance.

References

1. Aggarwal V., Gupta S. M. and Sachdeva
S.N., Concrete Durability through High
Volume Fly Ash Concrete (HVFC) - A
Literature Review, International Journal of
Engineering Science and Technology, Vol. 2(9),
2010, pp. 4473-4477.

2. Clemena G. G. and Jackson D. R., Pilot
Applications of Electrochemical Chloride
Extraction on Concrete Bridge Decks in
Virginia, Transportation Research Record, No.
1597, 1997, pp. 70-76

3. Detwiler R. J., Whiting D. A. and Lagergen
E.S., Statistical Approach to Ingress of
Chloride Ions in Silica Fume Concrete for
Bridge Decks, ACI Materials Journal, Vol.
96, No. 6, Nov.-Dec. 1999, pp. 670-675.

4. Florida Department of Transportation
(FDOT), An Accelerated Laboratory
Method for Corrosion of Reinforced
Concrete using Impressed Current,
Manual of Florida Sampling and Testing
Methods, Tallahassee, FL, September 2000,
pp. 6.

5. Ganesan K., Rajagopal K. and Thangavel K.,
Chloride Resisting Concrete Containing
Rice Husk Ash and Bagasse Ash, Indian
Journal of Engineering & Materials Sciences,
Vol.14, June 2007, pp.257-265.

6. Gunasekara M. P. C. M., Mutsuyoshi H. and
Sumita A., Renovate RC Structures with
Newly Developed Mortar Considering
Chloride Binding and Inverse Diffusion
ENGINEER 29
ENGINEER 12
Phenomenon, International Conference on
Structural Engineering, Construction and
Management (ICSECM), Kandy, Sri Lanka,
December 2011.

7. Jansen H. U. and Pratt P. L., The Binding
of Chloride Ions by Pozzolanic Product in
Fly Ash Cement Blends, Advances in
Cement Research, Vol. 2, No. 7, 1989,
pp.121-129.

8. Jennifer L. K., David D. and Carl E. L.,
Evaluation of Corrosion Protection
Methods for Reinforced Concrete Highway
Structures, Structural Engineering and
Engineering Materials, SM Report No.58,
University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc.,
Lawrence, Kansas, May 2000.

9. NDT James Instruments Inc., Instruction
Manual - RM-8000 Resistivity Meter, James
Instruments Inc., Chicago, U.S.A.

10. Sahmaran M., Li V. C. and Andrade C.,
Corrosion Resistance Performance of Steel-
Reinforced Engineered Cementitious
Composite Beams, ACI Materials Journal, V.
105, No. 3, May-June 2008, pp. 243-250.

11. Saraswathy V. and Song H., Evaluation of
Cementitious Repair Mortars for Corrosion
Resistance, PortugaliaeElectrochimicaActa,
26/5, June 2008, pp. 417-432.

12. Veerachai L., Toshimitsu S., Yuichi T. and
Masayasu O., Estimation of Corrosion in
Reinforced Concrete by Electrochemical
Techniques and Acoustic Emission, Journal
of Advanced Concrete Technology, Vol. 3,
No.1, February 2005, pp.137-147.

13. Virmani Y. P. and Clemena G. G.,
Corrosion Protection-Concrete Bridges,
Report No. FHWA-RD-98-088, Federal
Highway Administration, Washington, D.C.,
September 1998.
ENGINEER 30
1 ENGINEER
Productivity in Construction-A Critical Review of
Research

D. A. R. Dolage and P. Chan

Abstract: The aim is to bring a fresh perspective to the construction productivity research agenda,
which is congruent with the new demands in the construction industry and its ever changing nature.
The articles which had construction productivity as a keyword in the abstract, and were published in
each of the three journals (JCEM, CEM and IJP) from the earliest year that the articles had been
uploaded to the respective official website of each journal were identified. Out of 5862 articles
searched, only 121 articles fulfilled the selection criteria, the titles of which were examined.

The past decade has witnessed the continuation of the same relentless research interest in productivity
studies. The findings revealed that, in the studies: five types of productivity have been examined; five
data collection methods have been deployed; research objects can be classified under seven categories.
The research objects in a high number of studies are devoted to measurement of productivity and
examining the casual relationships with productivity.

The study ascertained that the main drawbacks of past productivity studies are the strong empirical
inclination of methodologies adopted and the overwhelming positivist approach to examining
productivity issues. The absence of follow-up studies to investigate the validity of productivity
measurement techniques and the models and to test the claims made in productivity improvement
studies, is a striking feature. Another impressive finding is the lack of scholarly attention to
incorporate blue-collar worker perspective, employee involvement, and social dimension into
productivity research.

Key Words: Construction productivity, Critical review of Research, Worker integration,
Interpretivism
1. Introduction

In view of the substantial share of construction
sector in the whole economy, in most countries
its stakeholder attention is invariably focussed
on improved resource utilisation or
productivity (Kazar et al., 2008). The decline or
the enhancement of its economic activity has a
significant direct impact on the smooth
functioning of the economy and the well-being,
of any country. On the one hand, the
competitive business environment in the
present day has increasingly compelled
construction organisations to focus on their core
business activities to a greater extent (Sheng,
2002). On the other, the construction industry is
under tremendous pressure to be efficient due
to issues such as increasing cost of energy,
labour, raw material and competition.

The rational participants who perceive
productivity as the ratio of output resources to
input resources must strive to get higher
outputs from lower inputs. In the construction
industry higher productivity levels invariably
lead to superior profitability, drawing the
constant attention of the management. Owing
to its significance to the profitability of
construction projects, productivity is regarded
as one of the relentlessly discussed topics in the
construction industry by both the practitioners
and the researchers. Nonetheless, several
studies have shown that the construction
industry has shown under-performance in
comparison to other industries (Lee et al., Smith
2011).

The nature of construction industry has been
going through a transformation over the last
three decades due to a number of reasons, the
two main being the emergence of off-site
production (OSP) of components and the
increasing engagement of subcontractors by
main contractors. The growing interest in
sustainable construction, rapid technological
improvements and increasing labour costs
should provide opportunities for OSP to serve
sustainable projects (Baba et al., 2008).
According to Chan and Kaka (2007), past
productivity studies bore a strong positivistic
tradition, often maintaining the managerial
perspective. In view of ever changing
construction project environment the adequacy
Eng. (Dr.) D. A. R. Dolage, CEng, FIE(Sri Lanka), BSc Eng.
(Moratuwa), MSc (Reading), MA (Colombo), MBA (SJP),
DBA (UniSA), Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil
Engineering, The Open University of Sri Lanka.
Dr. Paul Chan, BSc (Hons), PhD, ICIOB, PCAPL, FHEA,
Lecturer, School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil
Engineering, The University of Manchester, UK.
ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXVI, No. 04, pp. [31-42], 2013
The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka
ENGINEER 31
ENGINEER 2
of existing research paradigm is questionable.
The scepticism of this inadequacy has been
made justifiable further by the complexities in
the modern construction project since it has
become increasingly difficult to benchmark
performance and record, manage and transfer
information and knowledge effectively (Zhao at
al., 2007). Nowadays, building projects are
becoming much more complex and difficult
(Chan et al., 2004). This invariably adds to
concerns regarding productivity in construction
projects.

2. Research gaps and objectives

Construction productivity has been generating
significant interest in both the construction
industry itself and academia (Park, 2006; Ellis
and Lee, 2006). Despite the many publications,
a comprehensive critical review of productivity
research in construction with respect to levels
of analysis, research objects and methodologies,
has not appeared hitherto. The studies based on
review of literature are gaining popularity,
particularly, in order to critically review the
existing body of knowledge with a view to
examine plausibility of their findings and the
relevance of emerging theories which are being
hotly debated. However, critical reviews have
been carried out in related areas such as
competitiveness research in construction
(Flanagan et al, 2007) and energy and building
(Schweber and Leiringer, 2012).

The aim is to bring a fresh perspective to the
construction productivity research agenda
which is congruent with the new demands in
the construction industry and its transient
nature. This study which is based on theoretical
review of recent academic publications on
construction productivity aims to closely
examine and recapitulate the body of
knowledge. It is therefore considered pertinent
to summarise the progression of research on
productivity in construction through a
comprehensive review, and to suggest new
directions for further studies. The study has
two distinct research objectives. First, to
examine the perception of construction
productivity, progression of research interest
and the spectrum of research objects currently
being investigated in the existing literature
concerned with construction productivity.
Second, to review these studies systematically
with respect to each research object in order to
assess the level of research and new directions
for future studies.
3. Key theoretical concepts under
investigation
Productivity is about the efficient and effective
use of all resources that go into the production
of an activity or a process. Resources invariably
include labour, materials, equipment, space,
energy, finance knowledge, information and
time. In the literature, the term productivity is
often used interchangeably with the term
efficiency (Halligan, 1994). There are different
measures of productivity and the choice
between these depends either on the purpose of
the productivity measurement and/or data
availability. The productivity measures
adopted by researchers are: total factor
productivity, labour productivity, construction
productivity, and process productivity. The
adequacy of each measure needs to be
investigated in the light of the changing nature
of the industry and the new demands. Further,
the validity of findings and claims made based
on such measures need to be verified.

The research interest in the application of
concept of worker involvement, integration of
perspectives of workers and managers on
productivity in the construction industry is still
at the nascent stage since Chan (2006, 2007)
rekindled it to the research agenda. The
possibility of widening the worker integration
to encompass social relationship is also
investigated.

4. Research Method

The relevant research publications for the study
were selected from potential journals according
to reputation and impact ratings as in
Schweber and Leiringer (2012). A preliminary
survey, carried out adopting Google Scholar
using keyword construction + productivity,
revealed that in the first 50 articles, more than
90 per cent are from three Journals namely,
Journal of Construction Engineering and
Management (JCEM), Construction
Management and Economics (CME) and
International Journal of Project Management
(IJPM). The first two journals are prominent
construction research journals while the latter
is a business and social science journal. The
other construction research journals which
included relevant articles are: Structural
Survey, Building Research and Information,
Engineering Construction and Architectural
Management. It was observed that the range of
objects of research covered in the articles which
appeared in the three series of journals amply
covered those found in the former set of
ENGINEER 32

articles. Hence, for this exercise, only the top
three journals namely JCEM, CME and IJPM
were considered.

In all three journals, the authors carefully went
through the titles of all the articles appearing in
each issue of all the volumes looking for any
articles which might be concerned with
construction productivity. The abstracts of all
the articles which had some relevance to
construction productivity were examined
closely and the ones which had the keyword
productivity in the abstract were considered
for the study. One of the objectives of the study
was to find out the rate of publication of articles
on construction productivity in each journal
over the years it has been in publication.

The following information was extracted from
the articles:

i) The type of productivity being
examined
ii) The level of analysis at which the
productivity is examined.
iii) The data collection methods and
methodological approaches
adopted
iv) The main research object under
investigation

The results obtained with respect to the above
four aspects were graphically represented in
terms of different types and corresponding
percentage.

5. Research Findings

5.1 Trends in publication of research
articles on construction
productivity

The articles which had construction
productivity as a keyword in the abstract and
published in each of the three journals from the
earliest year that the articles had been uploaded
to the respective official website of each journal
were identified. Out of 5862 articles searched,
only 121 articles fulfilled the selection criteria,
the titles of which were examined. While the
highest attention to construction productivity
research has been paid by the JCEM (66 out of
2390; 2.76 per cent), the attention of the CME
(38 out of 1672; 2.27 per cent) is of the same
order. The publication of the same in IJPM (17
out of 1800; 0.94 per cent), as can be expected,
has been low. Figure 1 depicts the trend of
publications of these articles, as a percentage of
the total number of articles published in the
given year for all three journals. The articles
published since 1980 having been considered,
Figure 1 shows that all three journals have
published articles on productivity without a
continuous upward or downward trend. Since
1990 until 2012 the publication of articles
follows a similar trend regarding all three
journals. This indicates that research interest in
productivity still holds an important position in
the construction management research domain.
This provides a valid justification for the study
undertaken.

-
ENGINEER 33
5.2 Types of productivity and levels of
analysis

In the articles reviewed, the researchers have
been interested in investigating various types of
productivity, namely TFP, partial productivities
such as technology and labour, process and
construction. The distribution, in the
descending order of application is as follows;
labour (57 per cent), construction (22 per cent),
process (13 per cent), TFP (6 per cent),
technology (2 per cent). Since construction is a
labour intensive industry, it is understandable
that the highest percentage of articles are
devoted to the labour productivity.
Construction labour productivity has become a
buzz word and one of the most frequently
researched topics (Jarkas and Camille, 2012). A
high number of articles (41 articles) are devoted
to investigate the labour productivity of
construction industry. However, evidently, in
these articles, little or no scholarly attention has
been paid to the changing nature of
construction workforce due to growing
dependence on subcontracting, OSP and
increase in self employment.

The second highest percentage of research
effort is expended to investigate construction
productivity which connotes site or industry
productivity, in general. In almost all the
studies which engaged questionnaire based
surveys to elicit information, the respondents
perception on productivity is based on their
understanding on construction productivity.
In some articles, although the objective of the
article is to measure the construction
productivity what has really been measured is
either process productivity or labour
productivity (eg. Thomas et, al., 1986; Portas
and AbouRizk, 1997, Artdti, 1985; Herbsman
and Ellis, 1990; Goodrum et al., 2009; Goodrum
and Haas, 2002). Hence, a striking feature
among some of these articles is the omission to
provide a clear definition of productivity.

The articles that mainly studied the
productivity of operations and equipment have
adopted the process productivity. It is observed
that successive studies have been conducted to
study productivity aspects of the same
operation (eg. 4 on piling, 2 on crane, 3 on
structural design, 4 on construction machinery).
Although the construction industry constitutes
a large number of operations and equipment
that warrant studies that closely examine their
productivity aspects, current research agenda
has evidently failed to deal with most of them.

The reason for the low number of articles
focusing on TFP is because of the difficulty to
accurately determine and measure all the input
resources utilised to achieve the output. Only
two studies have been devoted to investigate
technology productivity, one dealing with
changes in material technology (Goodrum et al.,
2009) and the other dealing with changes in
equipment technology (Goodrum and Haas,
2002). Figure 2 graphically represents the
distribution of the five types of productivity
examined in these articles.
Table 2 displays the levels of analysis, types of
productivity measures adopted in these articles,
along with the areas that had been under
investigation in these studies.






-
ENGINEER 34

5 ENGINEER

Table 2 - Breakdown of Level of analysis, type and focus of productivity
Level of Analysis Type of
productivity
Focus
Industry Labour Construction industry (41)
Construction Construction industry (17)
Partial Construction industry (2)
Total Construction industry (8)
Sector Labour Housing, industrial construction, high-rise building
Construction Highways (2), water and wastewater treatment, low-cost housing
Operation and
Equipment
Labour Four operations, masonry wall systems, mechanical and sheet metal (2),
Material and technology
Construction Masonry projects (2),
Process Piling (4), carne (2), structural design (3), Group of operations,
structural concrete, concrete batching plant, bridge, asphalt operations,
trenchless excavation, drywalls, Construction equipment (2), earth
moving (2)
Trade/Contractor Labour Group of Tasks, formwork (2), concrete work (5), beam fixing,
bricklayer, mechanical work, fabricator, electrical and mechanical
contractors, labour intensive contractors, on site and offsite contractors,
steel drafting and fabrication (2), rebar fixing (3), masonry (2)
Process Key building tasks


The different levels of analysis performed in
these articles can be grouped under four main
categories. They are in the descending order of
application; industry (57 per cent),
Operations/Equipment (20 per cent),
Trade/Contractor (16 per cent) and sector (7 per
cent). A large majority of studies which have
explored different types of productivity
industry-wide are based on questionnaire
surveys. Since the responses to the
questionnaires are based on accumulated
experience gained over the years being in the
industry, they reflect the industry-wide
perception. Further, the availability of panel
data on information required to compute
different types of productivity has encouraged
the proliferation of a large number of studies
examining the construction industry,
holistically. Productivity being a phenomenon
associated with social dimension, the validity of
findings made in such studies may have room
for error. Alternatively, if these studies had
been focussed on different industry sectors
instead of the industry as a whole, the validity
of findings could have been improved.

Only a minute percentage of articles having
been dedicated to examine productivity at
industry sector indicate the lack of rigor in the
present research agenda. Of the studies 57 per
cent considering the industry holistically,
compared to 7 per cent of studies doing the
same on the industry sector is grossly
inadequate.

A substantive number of productivity studies
on associated with various operations and
equipment are shown in Table 2. In a similar
manner, a good number of articles have looked
into the productivity of some trades and tasks
of specific contractors. However, as shown in
Table 2, a large majority of these trades are
from a limited range (eg concreting of slabs,
beams and columns, formwork and structural
steel fixing). Mostly, these are related to
concrete work or to tasks for which data
available in abundance or to tasks which are
easily measurable. A likely explanation for the
situation is methodolatory where researchers
tend to conduct research, particularly
positivists, to suit to the methods and data
availability. Figure 3 displays the percentage
distribution of levels of analysis adopted in
these articles.










ENGINEER 35
ENGINEER 6


5.3 Data collection methods and
methodologies

As one of the steps of the study, data collection
methods and research approaches or
methodologies deployed in the articles were
examined. Unsurprisingly, most articles
adopted more than one data collection method
to varying degrees in their investigations; for
example, every article had data coming in from
literature review. Therefore, in order to keep
the analysis simple, the data collection method
that had the predominant bearing on their
findings was picked for this study. Figure 4
shows graphically how productivity
researchers have adopted the five different
types of data collection methods.

The highest percentage (35 per cent) of studies
have adopted data maintained over a period at
site or project offices concerning relatively
stable, established, repetitive and simple
construction activities. On some occasion, the
analysis is based on a single data set (case
study) and on the others the same was based on
different data sets. However, the researchers
seldom refer to possible differences among
contractors regarding data collection and
recording, which concern, if not addressed,
could invalidate the findings. In 23 per cent of
studies, the type of method adopted to collect
data is the questionnaire survey. A great
majority of studies are devoted to identify and
rank factors influencing productivity. Scholars
have not been adequately concerned about
differences in defining factors on which

perceptions are sought and the significance of
providing productivity definitions to
respondents. Construction industry data bases
and industry panel data are used in 19 per cent
of studies. While in 11 per cent of studies field
measurements are used, in 12 per cent of
studies literature surveys are adopted.

This also shows a high percentage (91 per cent)
of articles use site data, questionnaire surveys,
field measurements, site observations and data
bases evidencing the acute empiricist
inclination in the contemporary productivity
studies. The empirical studies favour positivist
research approach and therefore all these
articles are based on positivism. Positivism was
defined as a scientific methodology that aims to
reach the laws of human behaviour and social
life (Tekin and Kitaman, 2013). The positivist
approach pays scant attention to the complexity
of social construction and interactions in its
attempt to explain them through a one-
dimensional linear cause-and-effect
relationship.

It is heartening to note that only a small
percentage (12 out of 136, 09 per cent) of studies
are based on pure review of literature, an
approach which has some characteristics of
interpretivist research. Interpretivism is a
school of thought that builds on the meaning of
social interactions. Further, most of the studies
which adopted questionnaire surveys elicit
perceptions of respondents on productivity
related questions. However, the accuracy of

-
ENGINEER 36
7 ENGINEER


5.4 Types of research objects

Each article fundamentally has been devoted to
examine one type of productivity discussed
earlier, at a particular level of analysis, with
respect to a particular predominant research
object. The different research objects
investigated in the articles can be clustered into
six different generic groups namely trends,
measurement, means and assessment of
improvement, identification and ranking of
influencing factors, nature and causal
relationships. The number of articles,
percentages and focuses are presented in Table
3, under each generic group of research object.

The research object of the largest proportion of
articles (49 out of 136; 36 per cent) are basically
concerned with productivity measurement
although the stated research objects had been;
assessment (25 out of 49), measurement (14 out
of 49) and modelling (10 out of 49). In order to
simplify the analysis and comparison, .it was
decided to group them all under productivity
measurement since all these are associated with
measurement. A striking observation is the
growing adoption of Artificial Neural Network
(ANN), a technique adopted when variables
involved are too complex for the human brain
to handle, to model construction productivity
(eg. Portas and AbouRizk, 1997; Sonmez1 and
Rowings, 1998; Ok and Sinha, 2006; Zayed at
al., 2005). Some other studies had adopted other
advanced statistical models (eg. Zayed and.
Halpin, 2005) and software programmes (eg.
Everett and Slocum, 1993). The interest in the
use of advanced techniques to estimate
productivity can be ascribed to complexities in
measurement. However, the concern still
remains whether the intense research effort to
measure productivity using dominant positivist
approach is still valid when social and human
facet of productivity have been ignored.

Almost an equal number of articles (48 out of
136; 35 per cent) investigate the causal
relationship of productivity with different
attributes, namely, Technology (5), Operation
(4), Design (4), Motivation (6), Benchmarking
(6), Buildability (4), Physical environment (3),
Labour deployment (6), Change orders (4),
Management practices/actions (8);the number
of articles are depicted in parentheses.

Technology- The articles examine how changes
in material and equipment technology cause
improvements in productivity. Also some
examine how new technologies such as


findings in these studies is questionable
particularly because productivity being a
complex phenomenon, respondents could have
different perceptions. The most conspicuous
methodological feature of productivity studies
concerns the involvement of positivist versus
interpretivist approaches.

Despite the adoption of advanced statistical
techniques (eg. correlation, multivariate,
principal component analysis and structural
equation modelling), it can be argued that the
rigid theory testing methodology of the
positivist research paradigm cannot address the
specific research context needed to understand
a complex phenomenon like productivity.



-
ENGINEER 37
ENGINEER 8
advance machine guidance systems improve
process productivity.
Operation-The articles are mainly dealing with
the assessment of productivity of standard
operations like concreting, fabrication and
joining.

Design- The research objects of articles broadly
falls in to two areas; impact on construction
productivity due to changes in the design while
construction in progress; impact on
construction productivity due to improvement
in the design process.

Motivation-The impact of operative motivation
and training on productivity and the impact of
demotivating factors on productivity are dealt
with in these articles.

Benchmarking-The articles are devoted to
explain how benchmarking could be effectively
used to improve productivity. The articles are
focusing on benchmarking across countries and
across contractors.

Buildability- The influence of buildability on
productivity of operations and quantification of
the influence in its relationship with
productivity have been dealt with in these
studies.

Physical environment-The causal relationships
of inhibitors such as climatic effects, rainfall
and thermal effects with the productivity are
quantified in these articles.

Labour deployment-The impacts of scheduled
overtime, overmanning, shift work on
productivity are assessed in these articles.

Change orders-The contribution of change
orders or construction changes to labour
productivity are investigated in these articles.

Management practices/actions-The importance
of management practices and actions such as
BPR, quality assurance and participatory
management on productivity are assessed in
these articles.

The purpose of a substantial number of articles
(16 out of 136; 12 per cent) is to identify and
rank the factors influencing productivity. This
type of studies has been carried out in different
countries: USA (Herbsman and Ellis, 1990; Dai
et al. 2009), Singapore (Lim and Alum, 1995),
Thailand (Makulsawatudom et al., 2004) and
Indonesia (Kaming et al.1998) to name a few. It
was observed that there is incongruence among
the factors identified and variance in the
classification of factors. Further, the utility of
these studies is limited because these factors are
country specific and has less relevance to the
construction industry of another country.

The research object of a reasonable number of
articles (14 out of 136; 10 per cent) is to explore
means and assessment of productivity
improvement. These studies are separately
looking into two aspects of productivity;
namely areas where productivity improvement
is possible (eg. Arditi,1985; Arditi and
Mochtar,1996) and productivity improvement
techniques (Cottrell, 2006; Chan and Kaka,
2007; Han et al.2008, Minchin et al.2008). It is
striking to note that follow up studies have not
been conducted to empirically verify the
validity of claims and promises made in
productivity improvement studies.

Understandably, only a small number of
studies (5 out of 136; 4 per cent) explore the
productivity trends and these studies are
focusing on TFP or labour productivity of the
construction industry. Four of these studies
have been carried out in the USA (Allmon,
2000; Arditi and Mochtar, 2000; Teicholz, 2001
Rojas and Aramvareekul, 2001) and of which
three are looking into the labour productivity
trends. Chau (1993) has conducted a study on
estimating industry-level productivity trends in
the building industry of Hong Kong.

Again, only a small percentage of studies (4 out
of 136; 3 per cent) look into the nature of
construction on productivity and theories of
productivity. Figure 5 graphically illustrates the
distribution of research objects.












ENGINEER 38

Table 3 - Distribution of Research objects
Groups of Research
Objects
Focus Article
Number Percentage
Productivity trends Labour productivity and total factor productivity of different
countries

5 4

Measurement
Assessment (25) Sub contracting, scheduled overtime,
change orders, scheduled overtime

49

36 Measurement (14)
Modelling (10)
Means and
assessment of
Productivity
Improvement

Design process, Measures to be taken, motivation, Productivity
improvement officer, design integrated process/planning,
quality circles,

14



10
Identification and
ranking of factors
Influencing the industry

16 12
Nature and
Theories
Variability of productivity, implications of nature, field studies,
baseline theory and practice
4 3
Causal
relationships
Technology (5) 48 35
Operation (4)
Design (4)
Motivation (6)
Benchmarking (4)
Buildability (4)
Physical environment (3)
Labour Deployment (6)
Change orders (4)
Management practices/actions (8)

9 ENGINEER

6. Implication of findings on
theory, practice and policy

An impressive finding of the study is the
overwhelming engagement of the positivist
research in construction productivity research.
The positivist approach ignores the complexity
of social matters and interactions, and
productivity being a concept associated with
humans, this research approach alone is not
adequate to understand the exact context of
construction productivity. The construction
scholars should adopt a research paradigm like
interpretivist approach which is
understandably new to construction
productivity research domain.

According to the review of articles, the scholars
have investigated the construction productivity
in a managerial perspective while paying scant
attention to worker perspective. Construction
professionals are subjected to a plethora of
occupational demands that can have a negative
effect on their psychological wellbeing (Love et
al., 2010). These demands can have an adverse

-
ENGINEER 39
ENGINEER 10
influence on individual and organizational
productivity. The studies need to be
undertaken to investigate new areas like the
worker happiness, nature of self and social
supports, work stress and mental health among
construction professionals directly focussed on
worker wellbeing. These aspects which are
directly associated with workers social
construction can only be addressed through
multidisciplinary and inductive research.
Therefore, in this context, interpretivism is a
much better choice than positivism.

The findings suggest that emphasis on research
objects such as productivity measurement and
ranking of factors influencing productivity is
overwhelming and the neglect of much
pertinent research objects like worker
involvement and social dimension is noticeable.
The research effort should be diverted to
investigate less debated areas like employee
involvement, social dimension to productivity
and integration of blue collar and white collar
worker perspectives on productivity. The
managers should be made aware of the
necessity to look at the productivity
improvement holistically considering the
perspectives of blue collar workers too. The
industry professionals should be concerned
about the social dimension and get the workers
involved in productivity issues and see that
they are content and happy. The findings also
suggest that productivity improvement studies
should be followed up to empirically determine
the veracity of these studies. The findings of the
study will be useful to administrators of
research grants to make more funds available to
prospective studies on less researched areas
identified above and to prospective studies that
adopt new approaches. The industry
professionals should be concerned about the
social dimension and get the workers involved
in productivity issues and see that they are
content and happy.

With the little evidence shown in the study, the
percentage of construction productivity
research is higher in construction journals than
in the business and social science journals. The
scholarly interest in publication of productivity
research in business and social science journals
need to be examined more closely. The interest
among the scholars who wish to publish in this
domain should be promoted in order to bring
in the multidisciplinary approach to
construction productivity research.

The articles reviewed refer to two productivity
measures namely construction productivity
(abstract measure) and process productivity
(physical measure), in addition to the
conventional ones such as TFP and partial
productivities such as labour and technologies.
The drawbacks of using construction
productivity which is not a well defined
productivity measure and the necessity of
defining productivity measure to lessen the
subjectivity of findings were highlighted. The
process productivity was formally recognised
and defined. The construction scholars need to
take the above concerns into consideration in
future studies. They should also divert their
attention to less researched types of partial
productivities.

7. Conclusion

This paper has sought to review the published
research on construction productivity. It
ascertained that the main drawbacks of past
productivity studies are the strong empiricist
inclination of methodologies adopted and the
overwhelming positivist approach to
examining productivity issues.

A large number studies have explored research
objects such as measurement, ranking of
influencing factors and improvement
techniques related to productivity. The absence
of follow up studies to investigate the validity
of productivity measurement techniques and
the models and to test the claims made in
productivity improvement studies, is a striking
feature. Another impressive finding is the lack
of scholarly attention to incorporate blue collar
worker perspective, employee involvement,
and social dimension into productivity
research. Hence, in future, scholarly attention
should be drawn to these areas so that new
studies can be taken up.

The encouragement to adopt interpretivist
methodology instead of positivist approach for
research studies is a necessity to bring insights
into existing knowledge on construction
productivity. It proves the existence of a
vacuum of interpretivist research on
productivity and cohabitation of approaches,
interpretivism and positivism, should be
encouraged. Further, this will encourage new
audience of researchers adept at researching
social dimension to investigate construction
productivity. This provides opportunities to
construction researchers to publish in business
and social science journals.
ENGINEER 40

11 ENGINEER
The articles reviewed refer to two productivity
measures namely construction productivity
(abstract measure) and process productivity
(physical measure) and in this article they have
been formally recognised and defined.

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ENGINEER 42
g
1 ENGINEER

Streamflow, Suspended Solids, and Turbidity
Characteristics of the Gin River, Sri Lanka

T. N. Wickramaarachchi, H. Ishidaira and T. M. N. Wijayaratna


Abstract: Human induced impacts on the river systems result in decrease in water quality,
which is generally reflected by an increase of particulate matter in rivers. Turbidity and suspended
solids are part of physical and aesthetic parameters and good indicators of other pollutants that are
carried as sediment in suspension.
Study objectives were to define the relation between turbidity and total suspended solid (TSS)
concentration in Gin river at Baddegama (611'23" N, 8011'53" E) in developing an estimation
technique for TSS load, and to reveal how turbidity and TSS load vary with the streamflow. Linear
regression model developed between turbidity and TSS concentration showed strong positive
correlation (R
2
= 0.98). Results strongly suggest turbidity is a suitable monitoring parameter for TSS,
where TSS evaluation is crucial when logistical and financial constraints make TSS sampling
impractical. Mean daily TSS loads in the Gin river at Baddegama during 2000-2009 were modeled in
the study using load-discharge rating curve for estimating constituent loads in rivers. Relatively
strong relationship (R
2
= 0.85) was observed between the rating curve estimated and observed TSS
loads. Estimated TSS loads were having substantial temporal variation and generally peaked in May
and October, coinciding with the high flows. Turbidity which ranged between 2.3 NTU
(Nephelometric Turbidity Units) and 195 NTU significantly exceeded the maximum permissible limits
of the water quality standards set for the potable water as well the inland waters of Sri Lanka. Since
there was no specific water quality standards developed for TSS in Sri Lanka to compare with the
present values, TSS concentrations were compared with the permissible total solid levels. TSS
concentrations which ranged between 2.4 mg/l and 204 mg/l were well below the maximum
permissible total solid level cited in the Sri Lanka standards for potable water. Understanding on this
turbidity and TSS characteristics in Gin river flow might be useful for water managers and planners to
adjust operations accordingly at water treatment plants.

Keywords: Linear regression, Load-discharge rating curve, Streamflow, Suspended solid, Turbidity


1. Introduction

Increasing population and industrialization
have resulted in a variety of impacts on the
river systems, while increasing the demand for
higher quality water. Increased sediment and
nutrient loading in rivers adversely affect the
river water quality. Water quality and river
flows are correlated and this correlation varies
spatially as well as temporally. Turbidity is an
optical property of a liquid that causes light
rays to scatter and absorb rather than transmit
in straight lines through the sample. Turbid
water results from the presence of suspended
and dissolved matter such as clay, silt, finely
divided organic matter, plankton, other
microscopic organisms, organic acids, and dyes
[1]. Suspended sediment and turbidity are
thought to increase with increasing stream size,
stream order, and drainage area because of the
accumulation of sediment and nutrients from
the watershed and stream banks [2]. The level
of suspended solids in rivers changes rapidly
and unpredictably with changing water depths
and velocities related to anthropogenic causes
or natural hydrologic events making the
quantification of suspended solids critical. To
capture these rapid changes in suspended
solids, sampling must be conducted at a high
temporal frequency that is usually impractical
and expensive. A more practical method is to
monitor a surrogate, some parameter that is
closely related to the concentration of
Eng. (Mrs) T. N. Wickramaarachchi, B.Sc. Eng(Hons)
(Moratuwa), MPhil (Moratuwa), MJSCE(Japan), AMIE(Sri
Lanka), Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil & Env. Engineering,
University of Ruhuna. (Currently reading for PhD)

Eng. (Dr) H. Ishidaira, B.Sc. Eng(Nagaoka ), M.Eng (Nagaoka),
D.Eng (Nagaoka), Associate Professor, Interdis. Graduate School
of Medicine and Engineering, University of Yamanashi, Japan.

Eng. (Dr) T. M. N. Wijayaratna, B.Sc. Eng(Hons) (Moratuwa),
M.Eng (AIT), D.Eng (Yokohama), C.Eng, MIE(Sri Lanka), Senior
Lecturer, Department of Civil & Env. Eng., University of Ruhuna.

ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXVI, No. 04, pp. [43-51], 2013
The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka
ENGINEER 43
ENGINEER 2
suspended solid which can be continuously
monitored [3, 4]. Turbidity measurements are
theoretically well correlated to suspended solid
concentration because turbidity represents a
measure of water clarity that is directly
influenced by suspended solids. As such
turbidity based estimation models typically are
effective tools for generating suspended solid
concentration data [5].The use of turbidity as a
surrogate for suspended solid concentration
has become more common and shown by
several river basin studies around the world [6,
7, 8, 9, 10].

Present study intends to assess the quality of
water in Gin river because of its significance as
the primary drinking water source for the Galle
city. Gin river caters approximately 90 % of the
drinking water to Galle, the capital city in
Southern Sri Lanka. Human activities in the Gin
river basin have increased substantially in the
past few decades including alterations in
landuse pattern; subsequent to the expansion of
homesteads, cultivated area in the basin has
been decreased by 10% between early 80s and
late 90s [11]. These activities have been causing
significant impacts on the quality and clarity of
water in the river creating a need to monitor the
quality of water. In spite of these activities,
there remains a lack of comprehensive water
quality analysis for the basin. Turbidity is a
significant indicator of the quality of water. The
correlation between TSS and turbidity is well
documented for number of sites and turbidity
has been utilized as less expensive and easiest
to measure method enabling turbidity to serve
as a surrogate for suspended solid. This study
assessed how turbidity, as related to TSS, vary
with Gin river flow at Baddegama. LOADEST,
a load-discharge rating curve for estimating
constituent loads in rivers is used in this study
to develop regression model and estimate TSS
load [12]. LOADEST is widely used to estimate
constituent loads in rivers [13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18].

Results of the study could be useful in
monitoring turbidity levels to meet water
quality standards, to prevent adverse effects on
aquatic life, and to enhance aesthetic and
recreational values. Moreover understanding
on turbidity and TSS characteristics in river
water assists in estimating real-time TSS based
on automated turbidity record system.



2. Study Area

Gin river originates from the Gongala
mountains in Deniyaya having an elevation of
over 1300 m and flows to the Indian Ocean at
Gintota in Galle district. Gin catchment is about
932 km
2
and the catchment area at Baddegama
river gauging station is 780 km
2
. The catchment
is located approximately between longitudes
8008" E and 8040" E, and latitudes 604" N
and 630" N and includes Galle (83% of the
basin area), Matara (9% of the basin area),
Rathnapura (7% of the basin area), and
Kalutara (1% of the basin area) administrative
districts. The catchments land is primarily used
for human settlements, agriculture, natural
forests and plantation forests [11]. Rainfall
pattern in the catchment is of bi-modal, falling
between May and September (Southwest
monsoon, which is the major rainfall season),
and again between November and February
(Northeast monsoon) followed by the inter-
monsoon rains during the remaining months of
the year. Rainfall varies with altitude with
mean annual rainfall above 3500 mm in the
upper reaches to less than 2500 mm in the
lower reaches of the catchment. Gin river
annually discharges about 1268 million cubic
meters (MCM) of water to sea [19]. It is the
primary drinking water source, from which
pipe-borne water is supplied to Galle city, the
capital of Southern Sri Lanka, averaging 0.7
MCM per month. Gin river, its catchment
location, and Baddegama river gauging station
are shown in Figure 1.





Figure 1- Gin river, its catchment location, and
Baddegama river gauging station.



Baddegama
Gauging
Station
Sri Lanka
Gin rivers
Catchment Location
Gin River
ENGINEER 44

3 ENGINEER
3. Data and Analysis

3.1 Turbidity and TSS Correlation
Turbidity is influenced by color, temperature,
and shape of the suspended particles.
Turbidity-TSS relationships have been
reported, on site by site basis, and the reliability
varies due to water color and suspended
particle composition [20]. A direct correlation
between turbidity and suspended solid
concentration has been documented in many
studies conducted around the world. Moreover
the magnitude of turbidity in streams, lakes,
and estuaries is often proportional to
suspended solid concentration and the
turbidity-suspended solid concentration
relation has been quantified through linear
regression analysis in number of studies [7, 8,
21, 22, 23, 24]. In addition, as one of the least
expensive and easiest to measure methods,
turbidity has been utilized to determine TSS
concentration in the present study.

Turbidity was measured on more than 100
samples collected over three months period at
Baddegama (611'23" N, 8011'53" E) and TSS
concentration of the same samples were
analyzed as per standard procedures [25]. This
sampling effort over wide range of turbidity
values, provided data for the development of
regression equation to estimate TSS
concentration from the turbidity. As a means of
quality assurance, approximately 20% of the
total number of samples were collected as
duplicate samples and analyzed to determine
the precision of the results. Almost


















Figure 2 - Linear regression of turbidity and
TSS concentration including 95% prediction
intervals (number of samples = 103).
all duplicate TSS concentrations were within
5% of the corresponding sample TSS
concentrations. Relationship between turbidity
and TSS concentration was assessed using the
regression analysis with 95% prediction
interval. Linear regression equation was
developed using the least squares method. A
strong (R
2
= 0.98) highly significant (p < 0.0001)
relationship existed between turbidity and TSS
concentration (Figure 2).

Figure 2 shows the regression best fit line
bounded by 95% prediction intervals. Data
fairly fit around the regression line and the
model provides reasonably accurate prediction;
for Gin rivers long term mean turbidity value
of 25.2 NTU, the measured TSS concentration is
26 mg/l, and the model yields a TSS
concentration of 26.4 mg/l with a 95%
confidence interval from 25.7 mg/l to 27.0
mg/l.

Regression models developed between
turbidity and TSS concentration in most of the
previous studies have shown similarity to the
present study, based on the fact that the
regression line passing through the origin.
Slope coefficients in the regression models
developed previously have been ranging
between 0.9 1.3, producing comparable results
to the present study. Variability of the slope
coefficient from one study to another is
attributed to the characteristics of suspended
sediments and their transport processes in the
catchment; high turbidity subsequent to fine
suspended particles but low TSS concentration
results in lower slope coefficient and vise versa.
These acknowledge similar nature of the
regression models that best describe turbidity
TSS relationship though depend upon
catchment land use and the associated
hydrologic responses in the catchment.

3.2 TSS Load Model Development
Turbidity data of 116 water quality samples at
Baddegama (611'23" N, 8011'53" E) tested at
monthly frequency between February 2000 and
November 2009 were obtained from the
National Water Supply and Drainage Board
(Southern), Sri Lanka. Sampling location of
Baddegama is located near the streamflow
gauging station maintained by the Department
of Irrigation, Sri Lanka. Daily streamflow data
at the Baddegama gauging station for the same
period were collected from the Department of
Irrigation. Water quality and streamflow data
collected on a particular day are representative

Standard error of estimate = 28.6
Fit line;
Y=1.0457 X
Coeff. off determination (R
2
) = 0.98
ENGINEER 45
ENGINEER 4
of average concentration and average flow on
that day, respectively.

Using the linear regression equation developed,
the corresponding TSS concentrations were
calculated for the 116 turbidity measurements.
The calculated TSS concentrations were used to
estimate daily and monthly suspended solid
loads. Load-discharge rating curve [12] for
estimating constituent loads in rivers
incorporated into the LOADEST, a computer
programme developed by the United States
Geological Survey (USGS) was used in this
study to develop multiple regression model
and estimate TSS loads over the period 2000 -
2009. LOADEST uses time series streamflow
data and constituent concentrations to develop
and calibrate regression model that describes
constituent loads in terms of various functions
of streamflow and time. The calibrated model
is then used to estimate constituent loads using
daily streamflow observations over specified
time period.

The calibration and estimation procedures
within LOADEST are based on three statistical
methods; Adjusted Maximum Likelihood
Estimation (AMLE), Maximum Likelihood
Estimation (MLE), and Least Absolute
Deviation (LAD). AMLE and MLE methods are
appropriate when the calibration model
residuals (errors) are normally distributed and
AMLE is the method of choice when the
calibration data set contains censored data
(constituent concentrations that are less than
the laboratory detection limit). LAD is an
alternative method to maximum likelihood
estimation when the residuals are not normally
distributed. For the special case where the
calibration data set is uncensored, the AMLE
method converges to MLE, resulting in a
minimum variance unbiased estimate of
constituent loads [26]. Since all the data sets
used in this study were uncensored, model
coefficients for the AMLE and MLE methods
were identical and the AMLE was used to
determine the model coefficients and estimate
the log load. Two statistics, the Akaike
Information Criterion (AIC) and the Schwarz
Posterior Probability Criterion, were computed
for the calibrated model [12, 27].

In this study, a regression model was
developed and calibrated in estimating the TSS
loads. TSS concentrations were used in
conjunction with corresponding observed
streamflow data to develop and calibrate the
regression model using AMLE. The model with
the lowest value of the AIC was then selected
for use in load estimation. The regression
model developed for TSS using LOADEST is
shown in Table 1.

AMLE results are contingent upon the
assumption that model residuals are normally
distributed. Once the model formulation and
calibration were done, AMLE residuals were
examined to see whether this assumption was
valid. Checks for normality included
construction of a normal probability plot, a plot
of model residuals versus their Z-scores, which
should yield a normal probability plot [12,
29].The linearity of the plot suggested that the
residuals follow a normal distribution
(Figure 3). This linearity was supported by the
Probability Plot Correlation Coefficient (PPCC)
of 0.97.

Coefficient of determination (R
2
) of the
regression model for TSS load which represents
fraction of the variance explained by regression
is shown in Table 1. The relatively high R
2

value indicated that the model successfully
simulated the variability in constituent loads.


Table 1 - Regression model developed for TSS using LOADEST and the coefficient of
determination (R
2
).

Regression model Model Coefficients
(a)
R
2

a0 a1 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6

Ln(L) = a0 + a1 LnQ + a2 LnQ
2
+ a3 Sin(2 T)
+ a4 Cos(2 T) + a5 T + a6 T
2


10.88
(0.1)

1.69
(0.07)

-0.08
(0.07)

0.03
(0.08)

0.30
(0.08)

-0.02
(0.02)

0.02
(0.01)

0.85

Notes:
(a)
Standard deviation of the model coefficients are shown in parentheses.
L is the constituent load; Q is the streamflow; R
2
is the coefficient of determination for the regression model.
Relationships are considered to be significant at p < 0.05.
LnQ = Ln(streamflow) - center of Ln(streamflow); T = decimal time - center of decimal time.
Explanatory variables were centered to eliminate the colinearity [12, 28].

ENGINEER 46

5 ENGINEER
Figure 3 - Normal probability plot for the
model residuals of the AMLE regression.
Notes:
Model Residual [ln(L) - ln(L)] is the difference
between the observed and estimated values of log
load
L is in kilograms per day.
* PPCC

4. Results & Discussion

4.1 Influence of Stream Flow on
Turbidity
Turbidity is an indicator of the amount of
sediment and related constituents transported
by a stream. According to Christensen et al.
[30], turbidity and streamflow are related
because streamflow can affect suspension of the
sediment and related constituents. But the
conditions between turbidity and streamflow
affect this relation; Paustian & Beschta [31] have
revealed that, first storm flow occurring after a
dry period, results in higher turbidity than
from subsequent larger flows due to an initial
flush of suspended sediment. In Gin river,
turbidity varies directly with the streamflow
(Figure 4).

A plot of turbidity vs. streamflow exceedance
1
2
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
4 16 64 256
T
u
r
b
i
d
i
t
y

(
N
T
U
)
Stream Flow (m
3
/s)

Figure 4 - Variation in turbidity with the
streamflow (2000-2009).

probability shows that higher turbidity values
are in the range of intermediate and higher
flows (Figure 5). During all the flow regimes,
turbidity levels indicated exceedance of the
water quality standards set for the potable
water as well the inland waters of Sri Lanka. In
92% of the samples, turbidity level exceeded 5
NTU, the maximum permissible limit for Class
1 Waters; drinking water with simple
treatment, in the proposed ambient water
quality standard for inland waters of Sri Lanka
[32]. 8 NTU, the maximum permissible limit for
Sri Lanka standards for potable water [33] has
been exceeded by 70% of the samples.
Sediments from catchment runoff subsequent
to higher rainfall, eroding stream banks, and
sand mining activities might be attributable to
the high levels of turbidity.

4.2 TSS Load Estimation
TSS concentration values derived from the
turbidity based linear regression equation were
used as the model input concentration data to
develop TSS load-discharge multiple regression
model using the LOADEST program. TSS mean
load estimates were developed on daily and
monthly basis from January 2000 to December
2009.

1.00
10.00
100.00
1000.00
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
T
u
r
b
i
d
i
t
y

(
N
T
U
)
Percentage of time Streamflow was equaled or exceeded
Highest
flows
Lowest
flows
High flows Low flows
Intermediate
flows
8.00
Figure 5 - Turbidity vs. streamflow exceedance probability (2000-2009).
Maximum permissible
limit (8 NTU) for the
potable water

ENGINEER 47
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Model input TSS loads were plotted against the
estimated TSS loads by the LOADEST to
evaluate the fitness of the regression model
developed (Figure 6). 1:1 line represents similar
values for both model input and model
estimated. Points were moderately scattered
near the 1:1 line over a wide range of loads.
More points clustered slightly below the 1:1 line
indicated slight underestimation of the model
predicted loads.

4.3 Variation in TSS with Streamflow
It is important in any suspended sediment
estimation study to collect samples over several
years and over a wide range of streamflows to
more accurately depict the sediment flux under
all flow regimes [22]. Figure 7 illustrates the

Figure 6 - Relationship between model input
TSS loads and model estimated TSS loads.
Note:
** R
2
for the regression model.



Figure 7 - Flow duration curve and concurrent turbidity sampling.

relation of the streamflow, at which the
turbidity samples were collected during
February 2000 November 2009, to flow
duration, based on the streamflow data at
Baddegama station. Distribution of sample
collection over such a wide range in the
streamflow hydrograph, particularly at the high
flows, indicates that the TSS concentration data
would characterize TSS load information for
most flow and turbidity conditions.

TSS concentrations were compared with the
permissible total solid levels, since there was no
specific water quality standards developed for
TSS in Sri Lanka. TSS concentrations which
ranged between 2.4 mg/l and 204 mg/l were
well below the maximum permissible total
solid level (2000 mg/l) cited in the Sri Lanka
standards for potable water [33].

Concentration of TSS in rivers increases as a
function of flow. TSS concentrations have been
shown to be strongly correlated with the
streamflow with most of the sediment load
transported during peak flow events [34, 35,
36]. The relationship between streamflow and
TSS load is well established for Gin river
(Figure 8). High TSS loads occur in May and
October with the corresponding peak flows in
the Gin river. This peak constituent load
occurrence in Gin river in coinciding with the
high flows is further supported by
Wickramaarachchi et al. [18]. When considering
annual TSS loads in Gin river, there was a

Figure 8 - Mean monthly TSS load estimate
and mean monthly streamflow of Gin River at
Baddegama during 2000-2009.


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7 ENGINEER



















decreasing trend (0.02%) in annual TSS loads
and the trend was statistically significant at the
95% confidence level (p < 0.05).

Figure 9 shows the model input and model
estimated average daily TSS loads during
20002009. The estimated TSS loads closely
resemble the model input TSS loads,
particularly at the moderate flows, although
some estimated loads during extreme flow
conditions have some deviations. On the
descending limbs of the hydrograph, model
input loads are slightly overestimated by the
model. As Clark [37] pointed out, the reason
might be that the samples collected during the
ascending limb and near the peak of the
hydrograph typically contained higher
concentrations of solids than did samples
collected during the descending limb at the
same discharge. This is because material that
had accumulated in the stream prior to storm
runoff becomes mobile as stream velocities rise
and the concentrations measured later at the
same discharge were low because the stream
had been flushed of accumulated solids.
However, the model does not account for this
and as a result, changes in load resulting from
rapid changes in streamflow may not be
modeled accurately.


5. Conclusions

Correlation established between the turbidity
and TSS concentration in Gin river at
Baddegama can be used to compute TSS
concentrations beyond the period of record
used in model development with proper
sample collection and analysis. Moreover the



















understanding on turbidity and TSS
characteristics in river water might be useful in
exploring the potential to establish automated
turbidity recording system that makes real-time
sampling decisions to facilitate TSS estimation
in Gin river at Baddegama.

Due to the overall fitness reflected by the load-
discharge regression model developed for TSS
load estimation, it could be utilized in inferring
the TSS loads from the flow data, during un-
sampled periods.

Results of the study could be used to better
understand the fluctuation of turbidity and TSS
under changing flow regimes and to assess
quality of water in Gin river relative to the
water quality standards in practice. This
prevailing water quality conditions in Gin river
provide necessary information for water
managers and planners to adjust water
treatment strategies accordingly.


Acknowledgements

Authors gratefully acknowledge National
Water Supply and Drainage Board (Southern),
Sri Lanka for providing the water quality data
of Gin river and facilitating the water quality
testing. Sincere appreciation is extended to
University of Yamanashi, Japan and JSPS
(Japan Society for Promotion of Science) for the
technical and financial support for the study.






Figure 9 - Relation of model input to model estimated TSS loads and corresponding streamflow
during 2000-2009.
ENGINEER 49
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ENGINEER 50

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Geological Survey Water-Resources
Investigations Report 02-4183, 2003, pp. 37.

ENGINEER 51
Peak Electricity Demand Prediction Model for
Sri Lanka Power System

G.V.Buddhika De Silva and Lalith A. Samaliarachchi

Abstract: Accurate prediction of daily peak electricity demand is a requirement for service
reliability, system stability and operating performance of a power system in the field of electrical
engineering. This has now become a very important factor for Sri Lanka power system, since the
available power plants are to be dispatched in an economical and reliable manner especially during
the peak demand period of the chronological load profile. Therefore the prediction of next day peak
electricity demand to an acceptable accuracy is useful for the system control centre (SCC) of the
Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). However, presently the unit commitment to meet the next day peak
electricity demand is being mostly done by the system control engineers based on their past
experience in the field of operation with respect to the day, period and other factors. This research
paper carefully identifies sensitive elements which affect the daily peak demand of Sri Lanka power
system and develop two forecasting models, namely linear statistical Multiple Regression and feed
forward Artificial Neural Network. Both models were developed and fine-tuned using recorded
peak demands of Sri Lanka power system from year 2008 to 2011 taken from the SCC of CEB and
tested for the calendar year 2012 and also for the first few months of 2013. Artificial Neural Network
model was found to be the best fit model for the prediction of daily peak demand of Sri Lanka power
system with the lowest Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE).

Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks, Multiple Regression Analysis, peak demand


1. Introduction

1.1 Objective
This paper discusses step by step development
of a best fit forecasting model for the prediction
of next day peak electricity demand of Sri
Lanka power system. Such a prediction model
will not only help the System Control Engineers
to prepare optimum allocation of generation,
unit commitment and hydro/thermal
coordination but also for the preparation of
short term planned outages for scheduled
maintenance of power plants eventually
contributing to the system to maintain its
stability and reliability.
1.2 Background
One of the major and also a difficult task of a
system control engineer is to prepare a plan
showing the next days expected peak
electricity demand and its associated optimum
generation dispatch. Presently, this is being
done based on past experience with respect to
various factors by system control engineers and
it involves lots of risks. Therefore the prediction
of next day peak electricity demand to certain
accuracy would help the system control centre
to ride through the critical period without
facing many difficulties.


1.3 Features
It has been noticed that the demand for
electricity in Sri Lanka grows steadily and
continuously specially after the 30 year long
civil war. Social life patterns and day to day
activities of Sri Lanka exhibit two peak demand
periods in chronological daily load profile [6] as
shown in figure 1. One is in the day time and
the other during night time. Night peak
demand is the highest and control engineers are
very much concerned about.

Being a diverse country, home to many
religions and ethnicities, peak electricity
demand in Sri Lanka is mostly affected by
official/non official holidays and also by
religious and cultural events. Sri Lankan
government offers 25 formal annual holidays
and could be divided into two main groups
such as P.B.M [Public, Bank and Mercantile]
and PB [Public and Bank]. Peak electricity
demand is observed to be different on a
monthly Buddhist holiday called Poya day.
Sinhalese and Tamil Cultural/Festival seasons,







Eng. G.V.Buddhika De Silva, B. Tech. Eng. (Hons),
Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL), AMIE (Sri Lanka)
Eng. Lalith A. Samaliarachchi, B. Sc. Eng. (Hons)
(Moratuwa), M. Eng.(AIT), MIET(UK), MIE(Sri Lanka),
C.Eng Senior Lecturer, Department of Electrical &
Computer Engineering, OUSL.
ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXVI, No. 04, pp. [53-60], 2013
The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka
ENGINEER 53
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Figure 1 - Chronological Daily Load Profile

identified as New Year Season during April
and Buddhist religious activities during
Wesak week in May show a unique but
unsteady peak demand pattern and needed to
be treated separately from the regular days.
Peak demand value variation owing to the
temperature and humidity changes and the
impact owing to night time cricket matches
such as ODIs & T20s during peak demand
hours are noted and also needed to be
considered.

1.4 Forecasting
Two mathematical forecasting techniques are
considered in this study and they are:
Multiple Regression analysis (MRA)
Artificial Neural Networks (ANN)

Basically MRA is a linear statistical model
traditionally used for forecasting and in here it
is used to identify the relationships between the
peak demand and its dependent variables.
Statistical significance of each dependent
variable has to be considered here.

The aim of using ANN is to model any non
linear complex relationships, if exists, between
the variables that cannot be identified with
traditional linear models. ANN has to be
trained first and checked its ability for
generalization [lowest output errors for the
inputs which have not seen before].

Since most of the forecasting techniques are
lagged behind their theoretical formulation and
verification in the field of operation, study
compares and identifies the best fit model for
the prediction of peak electricity demand.


2. Literature Survey

It has been observed that the wide variety of
forecasting techniques are being used for the
prediction of short term electricity demand,
such as Similar Day approach, Time series
methods (Autoregressive Moving Average
ARMA), Autoregressive Integrated Moving
Average (ARIMA), autoregressive integrated
moving average with exogenous variables
(ARIMAX), Multiple Regression Analysis,
Artificial Neural Networks, Expert Systems,
Fuzzy logic, Support vector machines [4] and
Exponential smoothing methods [9].

ANN has been used and tested for the hourly
demand prediction model developed for the
Western part of Saudi Arabia [7]. Nigerian
Electrical Power System [8] and South Sulewesis
(Sulewesi IslandIndonesia) Power System
have used multiple regression analysis [5] for
the development of a demand prediction
model. However, it was noted that very few
publications have apparently verified the
goodness of fitness of the developed models
against actual values.

3. Methodology

3.1 Multiple Regression Analysis
In here, the dependent variable peak demand
(P) can be expressed as a function of many
independent variables
P = a1 + a2 Xa + a3 Xb + a4 Xc + a5 Xd +
a6 Xe + Error

SPSS 16.0 (Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences) software package is used to do MRA
throughout the study. Embedded F & T tests in
SPSS compares the sample data with the main
distribution by making hypothesis and explore
whether the regression results are owing to the
random effect. The four basic assumptions to be
fulfilled before the correctness of the results of
MRA is verified are Linearity, Independence of
residuals, Normality of residuals and
Homoscedasticity [1] & [12].

An observation that is numerically distant from
the rest of the data called outlier can lead
regression estimates to be inaccurate and limit
the ability to understand data. In this study
outliers were identified by the scatter plot
between residuals Vs predicted values.
Common thresholds are |2.0| or |3.0| times
the standard deviations [11] from error mean.
Day time peak
Night time peak
ENGINEER 54

To have an efficient regression results, those outliers
have to be removed from the data and analysis
should be redone until all the standardized
residuals are within the acceptable limits.

The block diagram for the algorithm showing
how the MRA model is developed and fine-
tuned is given in Appendix A1, figure A1.
network is a feed forward ANN, signals travel
only in one direction. Output of one layer will
be the input for the following layer.

In this paper, two layer ANN architecture i.e.
with one hidden layer and one out put layer
were used. Figure 4 exhibits a two layer feed
forward ANN structure.

3.2 Artificial Neural Network
Neural networks are adaptive statistical models
based on an analogy of the structure of human
brain. It can be fine-tuned to estimate the
parameters of the population utilizing limited
number of exemplars (one or few) at a time.
ANN maps an input space in to the desired
output space by adjusting the connecting
weights and biases (called learning). There are
two methods of learning; Supervised learning
and unsupervised learning. Supervised
learning method is used in this paper analogue
to the student guided by the teacher as shown
in figure 2.









Figure 2- Supervised Learning Method

A single neuron model shown in figure 3 has
multiple inputs (X) and a single output (Y).
Each input is modified and multiplied by a
weight (W). Weighted inputs are combined at a
Summing point. Output will be determined
with reference to the activation function (f) and
threshold value ().










Figure 3 - Single Neuron Model

Neurons are organized to make up the neural
network structures and the most concerned
structure is the multilayer network. When the












Figure 4 Two Layer Feed Forward ANN

For the preparation ANN model, two ANN
architectures were treated and developed using
three activation functions Tan-sigmoid, log-
sigmoid and pure linear[2, 3 &10]. Deciding
the number of hidden neurons in layers is an
important part while developing the overall
ANN architecture. Two traditional approaches
were used in this study to find out the number
of neurons in hidden layers and they are:
Try different configurations, see what
works best
Rule of thumb methods.
Latter provides a starting point to consider.

3.3 Data Pre-Processing
While Statistical or Z- Score Normalization
technique is used to normalize the inputs and
targets to improve the training process,
principal component analysis is used to reduce
the dimensions of the inputs which have high
correlations between their components[3 &10].

3.4 Training of Artificial Neural Network
Training of the ANN architecture needs to be
done by using four different training methods
[10] and could be stated as:

trainbr - Automated Regularization
trainlm- Reduced Memory
Levenberg- Marquardt
traingdx- Variable Learning Rate Back
propagation
trainrp - Resilient Back propagation
ENGINEER 55
ENGINEER 4
The block diagram for the algorithm showing
how the ANN model is prepared and
fine-tuned is given in Appendix A2, figure A1
5.2 Results of ANN
The best ANN architecture model giving lowest
MAPE for the daily peak demand prediction of
year 2012 is given in table 2.
4 Data Input

Observed peak demand data and its associated
variables identified in 1.3 from calendar year
2008 to 2011 are carefully sorted out, treated
and analysed for both forecasting models.

Table 1 Input variables


Numerical indexes are given to represent the
data input vector as depicted in table 1 to get
the output for forecasted day peak. Daily
Temperature and Relative humidity values
were taken as the mean hourly values recorded
between 4.40 p.m to 8.40 p.m at Katunayaka
[13].

5. Results

5.1 Results of MRA
Multiple regression Analysis is carried out for
both linear and exponential models.
Exponential model of MRA is shown to be the
best fit and seven equations were totally
derived to represent the final forecast, one per
each day. The Results of MRA model applied to
the calendar year 2012 is shown in Appendix
A1, figure A2. A significant deviation between
the actual [14] and the forecast peak value has
been observed for 64 out of 365 days owing to
the unprecedented power cuts and other
inherent features such as peak power saving
strategies imposed by CEB from time to time.
However, results of MRA revealed a Mean
Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 4.72% for
301 out of 365 consistent data.

Table2The Best Neural Network Architecture


The results of ANN model is shown in
Appendix A2, figure A2. The deviation
between the actual and the forecasted peak
cannot be overemphasized here again owing to
the reasons pointed out in 4.1. However, results
of ANN revealed a MAPE of 2.50% for same
number of days considered in year 2012.

6. Conclusions

Two forecasting models are developed and
presented in this paper for the prediction of
next day peak electricity demand of Sri Lanka
power system. Peak demand of Sri Lanka is
mostly affected by features such as day of the
week, temperature, Relative Humidity, PB or a
PBM and full moon day. Special features such
as whether the day is falling on a New Year
week or a Wesak week has also shown some
effect on the system night peak demand.
Unprecedented events like ODIs and T20s has
also shown some effect on the peak demand
and is interestingly noted. The above features
are carefully treated and analysed using widely
used load prediction models such as traditional
MRA statistical model and an alternative model
which does not rely on human experience i.e.
ANN. The Mean Absolute Percentage Error
while predicting peak demand for the calendar
year 2012 using MRA is found to be
4.72%where as using ANN is 2.50%. Since ANN
is giving the lowest MAPE, it can be concluded
that the Artificial Neural network model is the
best fit model that can be used to forecast the
Daily peak demands of Sri Lanka. Since the
process is an adaptive method of forecasting
procedure, it has to be updated at the end of
each year. Such an updated exercise carried out
Independent
Variables
Data Input
Year 2000- 0...., 2012-12
Week 1-52
Day Mon.=1...Sun.=7
Temperature Forecast temp.
Relative Humidity Forecast RH
P.B. holiday 0...1..
P.B.M holiday 0...1..
Poya day 0...1..
New year week 0...1..
Wesak Week 0...1..
ODI or T20 0...1..
Description ANN structure
No of hidden layers 1
No of Hidden neurons 17
Activation function of
hidden layer
Tan Sigmoid
Activation function of
out put layer
Pure linear
No of neurons in the
output layer
1
Training function traingdx
ENGINEER 56

for the first four months of the year 2013 is
shown in figure 5. Developed ANN model for
the year 2013 gives the Mean Absolute
Percentage Error of 2.08% for 110 out of 120
consistent data in the period of 01/01/2013 to
30/04/2013.


3. Eugene A. Feinberg & Dora Genethliou ,
Load forecasting, Applied Mathematics for
Restructured
4. Eugene A. Feinberg & Dora Genethliou ,
Load forecasting, Applied Mathematics for
Restructured Electric Power Systems: Electric
Power Systems: Optimization, Control, and
Computational Intelligence (J. H. Chow, F.F. Wu,
and J.J. Momoh, eds.), Spinger, USA, 2005, pp.
269-285













Figure 5 Plot of Actual Vs Predicted values for the period of 01/01/2013 to 30/04/2013

7. Acknowledgement

The authors would like to offer his appreciation
and thanks to Eng. J. Nanthakumar, CEB
System Control Centre for his assistance given
during data collection, many helpful comments
and suggestions. Also the guidance provided
by Dr. Narendra de Silva of LECO, Dr. (Mrs)
D.D.M. Ranasinghe and Dr. (Mrs) H.U.W.
Rathnayake of OUSL is greatly appreciated.

References

1. Spyros makridakis and Steven C. Wheelwright ,
Forecasting methods and Applications, Jhon Wiley &
Sons,USA,1978.

2. Elaine Rich, Kevin Knight, Shivashankar B Nair,
Artificial Intelligence , 3
rd
ed , The McGraw- Hill
Companies, New Delhi , India, 2009.

3. Kevin L. Priddy and Paul E. Keller, Artificial
Neural Networks an Introduction, 1
st
ed, Prentice-
Hall of India Private Limited, New Delhi ,India,
2007.



5. Amral N., zveren C. S., King D., Short Term
Load Forecasting using Multiple Linear
Regression, Proc of UPEC , 42
nd
international,
September, 2007, pp 1192- 1198.

6. Tilakasena D. K Bandula, Country Presentation
Sri Lanka, Presentation of Technical Session-I:
(USAID SARI/ Energy) Regional Clean Coal
Partnership Programme, Kolkata, INDIA,
September 16-19, 2008, p. 7.

7. Al-Shareef A. J., Mohamed E. A. and E.Al-
Judaibi, Next 24-Hours Load Forecasting using
Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for the Western
Area of Saudi Arabia, J. Faculty of Eng.Sci, King
Abdulaziz University (KAU) , Vol.19, No.2, 2008,
pp. 25-40.

8. Adepoju G. A., Ogunjuyigbe S. O. A., and
Alawode K. O., Application of Neural Network
to Load Forecasting in Nigerian Electrical Power
System, The Pacific journal of Science and
Technology, Akamai University, Vol. 8, No 1, May,
2007.

ENGINEER 57
ENGINEER 6
9 Alexandra KOTILLOV, Very Short- Term
Load Forecasting using Exponential Smoothing
and ARIMA models, Journal of information,
Control and Management Systems, Vol. 9, No. 2,
2011.

10. Howard Demuth, Mark Beale, Neural Network
Toolbox Users Guide, 6
th
ed, Version 4
(Release 12), Copyright by The MathWorks,
inc., September, 2000, chap. 2, 3, 5.

11. http://www.slideserve.com / Rita / regression
- outliers, Visited, 13
th
June 2011.

12. http://www.duke.edu / ~rnau / testing.htm
Visited, 20
th
June 2011.

13. http://www.wunderground.com, Visited and
recorded the weather data of each day from
01/01/2008 to 30/04/2013.

14. http://www.ceb.lk , Visited and recorded the
peak demand of each day from 01/01/2012 to
30/04/2013.










































































ENGINEER 58

Appendix A1


Method of selecting best Multiple Regression Model



























Figure A1 Algorithm for the development of best MRA model





















Figure A2 Actual Vs Predicted values for year 2012 by MRA model
Best Daily regression model
Best Multiple Regression Model
(with lowest M.A.P.E )
Daily Models
Data divided as days {52 demands per
year}. Seven models were treated giving
one model per each day
Data sets were taken as;
2008 to 2011, 2009 to 2011 & 2010 to 2011
Yearly models

Data from year 2010 to 2011 were used.
Since the war is ended in the middle of
year 2009.

Linear & Exponential Multiple Regression analysis
Best yearly regression model
Data Categorization
Past electricity peak demands
from 2008 to 2011
ENGINEER 59
ENGINEER 8

Appendix A2

Method of selecting best neural network structure






















Figure A1 - Algorithm for the development of best ANN Structure






















Figure A2 Actual Vs Predicted values for year 2012 by ANN model
Best 1
st
ANN architecture
Lowest M.A.P.E given architecture from 1
st

ANN architectures
Best Artificial Neural Network model
Training & Testing data Training & Testing data
1
st
ANN architecture
Try different configurations, see what works
Tan- Sigmoid (hidden layer)
Pure linear (output layer)
2
nd
ANN architecture
Rule of thumb methods
Tan- Sigmoid (hidden layer)
Pure linear (output layer)
Data pre-processing, Training and Testing of ANN architectures
Best 2
nd
ANN architecture
Lowest M.A.P.E given architecture from
2
nd
ANN architectures
Past electricity peak demands
from 2008 to 2011
ENGINEER 60
SECTION II
1 ENGINEER
Floating Wetlands for Management of Algal
Washout from Waste Stabilization Pond Effluent:
Case Study at Hikkaduwa Waste Stabilization Ponds
Sujatha Kalubowila, Mahesh Jayaweera, Chandrika M. Nanayakkara and
Dhanesh N. De S. Gunatilleke

Abstract: Waste stabilization ponds are advantageous wastewater treatment processes, especially for
developing countries. Nevertheless, in spite of the well known advantages of the implementation of
the stabilization pond system, the effluent of this system has a significant amount of algae and high
nutrients. Disposing this effluent with high contents algae and nutrients to the receiving waters can
hinder the water reuse for a wide range of different applications, it is essential to look for a post
treatment method that can provide considerable removal of algae, nutrients and organic matter from
the effluent and at the same time, assure that the treatment system as a whole will maintain the
advantages of the pond treatment processes. In this context, this research study was planned and
intended to introduce a floating treatment wetland in which water hyacinth plants (Eichhornia
crassipes) were used as macrophyte or vegetation in the part of the maturation pond area to control
algae and nutrients in the effluent.
With the application of the floating wetland the removal efficiencies were found to have increased in
the maturation pond in terms of BOD and COD from 13.3% to 62.9% and 13.6% to 57.5%, respectively.
In the case of TP and TN there were no significant reductions achieved prior to the establishment of the
wetland but, reductions of 74.8% for TP and 55.8% for TN were achieved since the establishment of
floating wetland. It was also possible to achieve a reduction of algal cell densities of 900 units/ml to
zero unit/ml for the algal species of Spirulina and for Oscillatoria, the reduction was from 290 units/ml
to 0 units/ml. In case of Chlorella and Pandorina, density reductions were 830,000 units/ml to 68,000
units/ml and 4300 units/ml to 280 units/ml respectively. Accordingly, the reduction efficiencies for
Spirulina, Oscilltoria, Chlorella and Pandorina were reported to be improved from 31.8% to 100% and
4.5% to 100%, 34.2% to 91.8% and 42.2% to 93.5%, respectively. Application of this research can
therefore be possible to polish waste stabilization pond effluent economically in order to re-use for
various beneficial uses except potable use.

Key words: Algae; Nutrients; Macrophyte; Wetland


1. Introduction

Waste Stabilization Ponds (WSP) are large,
shallow basins in which raw sewage is treated
entirely by natural processes involving mainly
both algae and bacteria. They are used for
sewage treatment in tropical climates, and
represent one of the most cost-effective,
reliable and easily-operated methods for
treating domestic wastewater. WSPs are very
effective in the removal of faecal coliform
bacteria. Sunlight energy is the only
requirement for its operation. Further, it
requires minimum supervision for daily
operation, in terms of simple cleaning of the
outlets and inlet works. The temperature and
duration of sunlight in tropical countries offer
an excellent opportunity for high efficiency
and satisfactory performance for this type of
water-cleaning system. They are well-suited
for low-income tropical countries where
conventional wastewater treatment cannot be
achieved due to the lack of a reliable energy
source. Further, the advantage of these
systems, in terms of removal of pathogens, is
one of the most important reasons for its use.
WSP systems comprise a single string of
anaerobic, facultative and maturation ponds in
series, or several such series in parallel.

Eng. (Ms) Sujatha Kalubowila, , C. Eng., MIE(Sri
Lanka), MSc Env Eng & Mgt (Moratuwa). Civil
Engineer, Water Supply & Drainage Board.
Eng.(Dr.) Mahesh Jayaweera, B.Sc. Eng.(Hons)
(Moratuwa), PhD. (Japan), CEng., MIE(Sri Lanka),
Senior Lecture, Department of Civil Engineering ,
University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.
Dr (Mrs.) Chandrika M. Nanayakkara, B.Sc.
(Hons)(Colombo), M.Sc. (Kelaniya), PhD (Aberdeen),
Senior Lecturer, Department of Plant Sciences,
University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Eng. Dhanesh N. De S. Gunatilleke B.Sc. Eng. (Hons)
(Moratuwa), P.G. Dip (Moratuwa), MSc Sanitary
Engineering (UNESCO-IHE, Delft), Diploma (Lund
University), FIE(Sri Lanka), MCIWEM (UK), Int PE,
CEng, Specialist (Sewerage Designs), National Water
Supply &Drainage Board, Sri Lanka.
ENGINEER - Vol. XXXXVI, No. 04, pp. [63-74], 2013
The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka
ENGINEER 63

ENGINEER 2
In essence, anaerobic and facultative ponds are
designed for removal of Biochemical Oxygen
Demand (BOD), and maturation ponds for
pathogen removal, although a considerable
BOD removal also occurs in maturation ponds
and some pathogen removal in anaerobic and
facultative ponds.

In most cases, only anaerobic and facultative
ponds will be needed for BOD removal when
the effluent is to be used for restricted crop
irrigation and fish pond fertilization, as well as
when weak sewage is to be treated prior to its
discharge to surface waters. Maturation ponds
are only required when the effluent is to be
used for unrestricted irrigation, thereby
having to comply with the WHO guideline of
1000 faecal coliform bacteria /100 ml.

The WSP does not require mechanical mixing,
needing only sunlight to supply most of its
oxygenation. Its performance may be
measured in terms of its removal of BOD and
faecal coliform bacteria.

1.1 Processes in Stabilization ponds
Anaerobic ponds are commonly 2-5 m deep and
receive wastewater with high organic loads (i.e.,
usually greater than 100 g BOD/m3.day
equivalent to more than 3000 kg/ha.day for a
depth of 3 m). They normally do not contain
dissolved oxygen or algae. In anaerobic ponds,
BOD removal is achieved by sedimentation of
solids and subsequent anaerobic digestion in
the resulting sludge. The process of anaerobic
digestion is more intense at temperatures above
150C. The anaerobic bacteria are usually
sensitive to pH less than 6.2. Thus, Acidic
wastewater must be neutralized prior to its
treatment in anaerobic ponds. A properly-
designed anaerobic pond will achieve about a
40% removal of BOD at 10
0
C, and more than
60% at 200C. A shorter retention time of 1.0-1.5
days is commonly used [5].

Facultative ponds (1-2 m deep) are of two types:
primary facultative ponds that receive raw
wastewater, and secondary facultative ponds
that receive particle-free wastewater (usually
from anaerobic ponds, septic tanks, primary
facultative ponds, and shallow sewerage
systems). The process of oxidation of organic
matter by aerobic bacteria is usually dominant
in primary facultative ponds or secondary
facultative ponds.

The processes in anaerobic and secondary
facultative ponds occur simultaneously in
primary facultative ponds. It is estimated that
about 30% of the influent BOD leaves the
primary facultative pond in the form of
methane [9]. A high proportion of the BOD that
does not leave the pond as methane ends up in
algae. This process requires more time, more
land area, and possibly 2-3 weeks of water
retention time, rather than 2-3 days in the
anaerobic pond. In the secondary facultative
pond and the upper layers of primary
facultative ponds, sewage BOD is converted
into Algal BOD, and has implications for
effluent quality requirements. About 70-90% of
the BOD of the final effluent from a series of
well-designed WSPs are related to the algae
they contain. In secondary facultative ponds
that receive particle-free sewage (anaerobic
effluent), the remaining non-settlable BOD is
oxidized by heterotrophic bacteria such as
(Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Archromobacter
and Alcaligenes spp.). The oxygen required for
oxidation of BOD is obtained from the
photosynthetic activity of the micro-algae that
grow naturally and profusely in facultative
ponds.

Facultative ponds are designed for BOD
removal on the basis of a relatively low surface
loading (100-400 kg BOD/ha.day), in order to
allow for the development of a healthy algal
population, since the oxygen for BOD removal
by the pond bacteria is generated primarily via
algal photosynthesis. The facultative pond
relies on naturally-growing algae. The
facultative ponds are usually dark-green in
colour because of the algae they contain. The
algal concentration in the pond depends on
nutrient loading, temperature and sunlight, but
is usually in the range of 500-2000 g
chlorophyll-a/liter [5].

The maturation ponds, usually 1-1.5 m deep,
receive the effluent from the facultative ponds.
Their primary function is to remove excreted
pathogens. Although maturation ponds achieve
only a small degree of BOD removal, their
contribution to nutrient removal can also be
significant. Maturation ponds usually show less
vertical biological and physicochemical
stratification, and are well-oxygenated
throughout the day. The algal population in
maturation ponds is much more diverse than
that of the facultative ponds, with non-motile
genera predominantly be more common. The
algal diversity generally increases from pond to
pond along the series [5].

ENGINEER 64

3 ENGINEER
Time and temperature are the two principal
parameters used in designing maturation
ponds. Faecal bacteria die-off in ponds
increases with both time and temperature. High
pH values (above 9) occur in ponds, due to
rapid photosynthesis by pond algae, which
consumes CO2 faster than that can be replaced
by bacterial respiration.

The resulting CO2 is fixed by the algae, and the
hydroxyl ions accumulate, often raising the pH
to values even above 10. Faecal bacteria (with
the notable exception of Vibro cholera) die very
quickly at pH values higher than 9 [13]. The
role of high light intensity and high dissolved
oxygen concentration has recently been
elucidated in the literature. Light wavelengths
between 425-700 nm can damage faecal bacteria
from being absorbed by the humic substances
ubiquitous in wastewater. They remain in an
excited state sufficiently long to damage the
cell. Light-mediated die-off is completely
dependent on the presence of oxygen, as well as
being enhanced at high pH values. Thus, the
sun plays a threefold role in directly promoting
the faecal bacterial removal in WSP by
increasing the pond temperature, and more
indirectly by providing the energy for rapid
algal photosynthesis. This not only raises the
pond pH value above 9, but also results in high
dissolved oxygen concentrations, which are
necessary for its third role; namely, promoting
photo-oxidative damage.

WSPs are widely used as natural treatment
systems because of their low cost and simplicity
of construction, operation, and maintenance.
However, the major operational problem
encountered in WSPs is the excessive discharge
of particles in the effluent caused by algal
activity. The algal cells are produced
extensively in facultative ponds and flow
progressively to the maturation ponds and are
ultimately discharged into inland surface water
bodies such as lakes and rivers. These effluents
contribute to eutrophication and eventually
leading to loss of water resources.

Therefore, it is essential to polish the effluent
from the WSPs by removing over-discharged
suspended solids (SS), BOD, and nutrients. An
effective method to separate algae and other
particles from the effluent of WSPs is the use of
floating wetland with water hyacinth plants
(Eichhornia crassipes). Water hyacinths can remove
particles through sedimentation and filtration
due to their dense root system. The leaves and
stems also help to control algal growth by
limiting the sunlight from reaching the water
surface.

Beyond their ability to remove suspended
matter from the wastewater, several researchers
in their studies, have recognized the water
hyacinths role as an additional treatment step
to reducing organic matter and nutrients from
an effluent stream.

This study examines the potential of
developing and applying a novel floating
wetland concept for the provision of enhanced
effluent polishing particularly with regards to
prevention of escaping algal cells from WSP
effluent.

This concept was therefore tested at the existing
sewage treatment plant (STP) in Hikkaduwa of
Southern Province of Sri Lanka. It is about 100
km away from Colombo towards the south of
Sri Lanka. The sewage treatment method
adopted in this STP has been the WSP system.

2. Literature Review

The term waste stabilization pond in its
simplest form is applied to a body of water,
artificially or naturally employed with the
intention of retaining sewage or organic
wastewater until they are rendered pollution
free and inoffensive status for discharge into
receiving waters or on land, mainly relying on
physical, chemical and biological processes
commonly referred to as self purification
involving the actions of algae and bacteria
under the influence of sunlight (photosynthesis)
and air. Organic matter contained in the
wastewater is stabilized and converted into
more stable matter by algal cells simply
providing oxygen required for mineralization
which thrive in large numbers and find their
way with the effluent and hence the term
stabilization pond [5].

[8] defines WSP as shallow basins into which
wastewater continuously flows and from which
treated effluent is discharged. [3] explains that
the degree of treatment is a function of the
number of ponds in series and the retention
time of the wastewater in each pond. Although
the number of ponds and retention time have a
major effect on the quality of the effluent, it is
possible to manipulate each individual pond to
achieve a desired function [4]. A wide range of
pond types therefore exists, allowing flexibility
in different configurations to suit different
conditions and discharge standards [13].
ENGINEER 65

ENGINEER 4
According to [13] correctly designed ponds can
match the effluent quality that could otherwise
be achieved by other conventional wastewater
treatment technologies.

2.1 Specialized Pond Types
While the above-mentioned three pond types
are the most common WSPs in use, there are,
however, specialized ponds that are sometimes
used for wastewater treatment. These include
high rate algal ponds (HRAP) and macrophyte
ponds. HRAP is a shallow, paddle wheel mixed
pond, which designed to enhance exposure of
the algae to sunlight and avoid thermal
stratification, thereby maximizing growth,
photosynthesis and productivity [11], [12], [3].
This results in surplus dissolved oxygen, high
pH as well as a high rate of carbon assimilation
and nutrient uptake [11]. All of these contribute
to the efficacy of HRAP as a combined
secondary and tertiary treatment operation. The
function and performance of HRAP will be
examined in more detail throughout this study.

Macrophyte ponds remove suspended algae
and thus Macrophyte ponds are ponds where
aquatic plants are grown, either on the pond
surface (free floating macrophyte) such as water
hyacinth, submerged such as hydrilla (Hydrilla
spp.) or attached to the bottom (emergent) such
as common reed (Phragmites australis) to further
reduce BOD and in WSP effluent. Faecal
coliform removal is however, negligible [3].

2.2 Roles of Water hyacinth and their roots in
effluent polishing
Performance of WSPs depends on the effective
use of bacteria for degradation of organic
matters, efficient use of algae for maintaining
an adequate level of oxygen in the system and
especially, separation of algal biomass from
the effluent. Excessive loss of algae from the
ponds deteriorates the effluent quality. When
proper hydraulic residence time is not
provided for the WSPs, the content of organic
matters in the effluent can even be higher than
that of the influent. This has been recognized
as one of the most troublesome operational
problems [14]. Thus, separation of the algae is
essential to produce lower concentrations of
SS, and nutrients as well. For removing algal
particles from pond effluent, various methods
have been proposed in the literatures such as
maturation or polishing ponds, [12] fishing
ponds, land or wetland treatment with
microstraining [2].


From a pilot plant study, [6] examined the
individual effects of the water hyacinth leaves,
stems and root mat on the algal concentration.
The results showed that filtration and settling
almost equally contributed to the separation of
algal particles. The canopy effect of the leaves
and stems, which suppresses algal growth, is
equivalent to a considerable amount of algae
removed by gravity settling. A portion of the
SS in the influent sewage is also removed by
settling in the root zone, as it flows through
the water hyacinth channel. Another portion
of the SS that will not settle by gravity is
screened by filtration as wastewater flows
through the root mat of the water hyacinth.
Because filtration is of great importance in
removal mechanism, transport of the
wastewater to the root zone is a critical
designing consideration in water hyacinth
treatment systems.

[4] reported that the key separation
phenomenon of algae particles by root surface
is similar to adsorption processes. In other
words, there is a maximum capacity in a given
weight of roots, but effluent algal
concentration does not increase at saturation
due to the sloughing off of attached particles
as a clump from the roots and the continuous
reproduction of new attachment sites caused
by the growth of roots. In many cases, water
hyacinth ponds remain unsaturated,
providing thus an efficient method for particle
removal [7].

How algal and other suspended particles are
retained on the surface of roots is not clearly
known yet, the attachment mechanism may
include electrostatic interactions and chemical
bridging, or specific adsorption, all of which
would be affected by chemical characteristics.
Microscopic examination of the roots revealed
that a gelatinous matter, which covered the
root surface, surrounds algal particles. These
materials are only assumed to provide an
attachment force between roots and particles
[6].

3. Study Area

This concept was therefore tested at the existing
sewage treatment plant (STP) in Hikkaduwa of
Southern Province of Sri Lanka. It is about 100
km away from Colombo towards the south of
Sri Lanka. The sewage treatment method
adopted in this STP has been the WSP system.
It consists of inlet structure, three treatment
lagoons (two facultative ponds and one
ENGINEER 66

5 ENGINEER
maturation pond) and a decanting structure at
the outfall for discharge of treated effluent.

STP at Hikkaduwa treats the sewage that is
collected by the sewerage system as well as by
the septage from tankers. It consists of a
number of treatment processes. Inlet works
remove grit and gross nonbiodegradable
materials such as plastic. In facultative ponds,
settlable solids are removed. Polishing and
disinfection occurs in maturation ponds.
Treated effluent from STP at Hikkaduwa is
discharged during the receding tide every day
by manual decanting from the maturation
lagoon to the Hikkaduwa river.

SPT at Hikkaduwa is equipped with two
facultative lagoons with a capacity of 6500 m
3

and 6200 m
3
and one maturation pond with
the capacity of 7000 m
3
. The normal process
train is to operate the three lagoons in series so
as to pass sewage after going through the inlet
works enters lagoon 1 and is discharged
eventually from lagoon 3. Finally all sewage
leaves the plant via the manually operated
decant structure.

All lagoons are equipped with baffles to
support inflow distribution and to avoid short
circuiting. The flow from the inlet works (flow
splitter) to the facultative lagoons is bifurcated
to support inflow distribution in facultative
ponds. Floating booms are attached to the top
of the baffles so that any floating scum, grease
or debris from the sewage feed is trapped and
contained for ease of daily removal by STP
operators.

4. Research Methodology
This study basically consisted of two
components such as establishment of floating
wetland and the maintenance of it respectively
and the water quality measurements obtained
before and after establishment of wetland were
then analyzed by means of statistical method to
generalize the findings for population.
4.1 Establishment of floating wetland
A wetland was created with wetland plant
covering the maturation pond from the inlet up
to the first baffle wall. It is approximately 1355
m
2
in extent and selected area is shown in
figure 4.1. The macrophyte used for this
wetland was water hyacinth (Eichhornia
crassipes) which is fast-growing plant in fresh
waters. They were collected from Bolgoda lake
nearby University of Moratuwa premises and
were selected as they hold up high nutrient
levels, grow faster, contain deeply grown root
systems.


Three truck loads were transported to the
Hikkaduwa SPT from predefined areas of
Bolgoda Lake taking into account the
precautions not to dump them elsewhere. Once
established, it took almost two month period to
get acclimatized to the new environment
without any multiplication of plants.
4.2 Sampling and testing water quality
before and after establishment of wetland
To study the variation of influent and effluent
water quality parameters and algal diversity
and density, six sampling points were selected
as shown in figure 4.2. Samples were collected
and analyzed every two weeks for a period of
approximately six months in order to study the
temporal variation of different parameters. For
the elucidation of spatial variation, samples
from all six locations in the ponds were
analyzed at the same time as well. Sample
collection and analysis were performed before
and after the creation of wetland.



Figure 4.1 -Wetland area
Figure 4.2 -Location map of sampling points
ENGINEER 67

ENGINEER 6
The physiochemical parameters and biological
measured were as follows;
i. BOD
ii. COD
iii. Total Dissolved Solids
iv. Total Phosphorus
v. Dissolved Oxygen
vi. Conductivity
vii. pH
viii. Temperature
ix. Salinity
x. Algal diversity and
xi. Algal density.
Testing for TP, TN, BOD and COD were carried
out ex situ in the Environmental Engineering
Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering at
the University of Moratuwa and DO, turbidity
conductivity, temperature, pH, TDS and
salinity were measured in situ by using portable
Water Quality Meter (Sensor module WM5
24 1 - 01) respectively. Algae enumeration was
carried out in the Plant Science Laboratory,
Department of Botany at University of
Colombo.
A riding boat was used to collect samples from
sampling points L-3 and L-5 which were
located in the middle of the ponds. Depth
samples were not taken mainly due to the fact
that all ponds were too shallow (1.2-1.5 m) so as
not to cause any depth variation predominately
because of wind mixing. Thus, one sample from
each sampling point was collected from the top
of the water column.
Identification of algae was accomplished with
the aid of a microscope, a counting chamber
called Sedgewick rafter and a tally counter. A
sample of 1 ml was placed in the Sedgewick
Rafter for counting cells and the enumeration of
the organisms was made with the aid of a
compound microscope. The magnification used
was 100X obtained by means a 10X ocular and
10X objective magnifications. The plankton
organisms appearing in 10 fields were counted
and from their total, the number of organisms
per milliliter of the water sample was
calculated. Quantitative records for each genus
(isolated cells plus colonies) were reported
separately.
4.3 Statistical methods adopted
In order to analyze the rate of reduction of the
water quality parameters and algal density due
to the introduction of floating wetland, a non-
parametric statistical analysis method was
used. Since the values of water quality
parameters and algal diversity and density
measured were not the same as they change
due to prevailing climatic conditions and
influent quality such as organic loading
intensity, pH etc. two sampling points namely,
L-4 (just before the entrance to the wetland) and
L-6 (final exit point after the wetland) were
selected for the statistical analysis.

Hypothesis tests were performed for all
parameters collected from these two points
using the Mann Whitney test.

5. Results and Discussion

The test results of the water quality parameters
and algal diversity and density on the
wastewater in the Hikkaduwa SPT before and
after establishing the wetland are shown in
Table 5.1 and Table 5.2 respectively. Temporal
variations according to the sampling dates and
spatial variations along the sampling points are
represented from Figure 5-1 to Figure 5-15
respectively. Even though pH, DO,
temperature, TDS and turbidity were
measured, they showed no signs of
considerable changes statistically for conditions
prevailing before and after the establishment of
wetland. However, salinity was monitored
throughout the study period, since an increase
in the level of salinity above 2 ppt would affect
the existence of water hyacinth plants due to
toxicity effects.

It was possible to achieve a reduction of algal
cell densities of 900 units/ml to zero unit/ml
for the algal species of Spirulina and for
Oscillatoria, the reduction was from 290
units/ml to zero units/ml. In case of Chlorella
and Pandorina, density reductions were 830,000
units/ml to 68,000 units/ml and 4300 units/ml
to 280 units/ml respectively. Accordingly, the
reduction efficiencies for Spirulina, Oscilltoria,
Chlorella and Pandorina after the addition of
wetland were reported to be improved from
31.8% to 100% and 4.5% to 100%, 34.2% to
91.8% and 42.2% to 93.5%, respectively.

The removal efficiencies of organic matter were
found to have increased in the maturation pond
in terms of BOD and COD from 13.3% to 62.9%
and 13.6% to 57.5%, respectively.

In the case of nutrients, the reduction
percentage of 74.8% for TP and 55.8% for TN
were achieved since the establishment of
floating wetland.
ENGINEER 68

7 ENGINEER
In general, the growth rate of algae depends on
temperature, photosynthetically active light
intensity and limiting nutrient levels
respectively. The introduction of floating
wetland made the light intensity available for
algal growth minimal as shading effect was
pronounced due to wetland plants. Further the
limiting nutrients such as phosphorous were
also utilized by wetland plants making them
further restricted for algal growth. Also noted
was the reduction of carbonaceous compounds
due to microbial activity taking place in the root
zone vegetation. These phenomena therefore
helped to reduce algal densities drastically in
the maturation pond.



Table 5.1 Reduction percentages from inlet
to outlet in WSP on 24/4/2012 (before
establishing the wetland)
L-4 L-6
Reduction
%
BOD 90 78 13.3
COD 220 190 13.6
TP 4.29 4.91 -1.7
TN 10.29 12.83 -24.7
Chlorella 698,000 459,000 34.2
Pandorina 9000 5200 42.2
Spirulina 2200 1500 31.8
Oscillatoria 1100 1050 4.5


Table 5.2 Reduction percentages from inlet
to outlet in WSP on 28/9/2012 (after
establishing the wetland)
L-4 L-6
Reduction
%
BOD 70 26 62.9
COD 160 68 57.5
TP 1.55 0.39 74.8
TN 16.35 7.23 55.8
Chlorella 830,000 68,000 91.8
Pandorina 4300 280 93.5
Spirulina 930 0 100
Oscillatoria 290 0 100

Table 5.3: Results obtained by statistical
analysis


Median
Zw P value
Before After
BOD 14.56 60.56 3.0 0.0407
COD 17.54 55.56 3.0 0.0407
TP -25.61 74.84 3.0 0.0407
TN -12.20 51.43 3.0 0.0407
Chlorella
density
13.85 78.34 3.0 0.0407
Pandorina
density
44.95 73.79 3.0 0.0407

Note: P value Probability; Zw Normal approximation
for test statistics


90
95
80
64 64
71
70
220
280
210
230.4
140.8
158.4 160
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2
4
/
4
/
2
0
1
2
1
5
/
5
/
2
0
1
2
3
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
7
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
3
0
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
4
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
2
8
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
BOD (mg/l)
COD (mg/l)










Before
establishing the
wetland
Figure 5.1- Temporal variation of
BOD and COD at Location L-4
After
establishing the
wetland
ENGINEER 69

ENGINEER 8
78 80
32
24
34
28
26
190
220
110
76.8
110
70.4 68
0
50
100
150
200
250
2
4
/
4
/
2
0
1
2
1
5
/
5
/
2
0
1
2
3
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
7
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
3
0
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
4
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
2
8
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
BOD (mg/l)
COD (mg/l)









110
95
93 90
80 78
280
260
210
220 220
190
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
L
o
c
a
t
i
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n
1
L
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c
a
t
i
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2
L
o
c
a
t
i
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3
L
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4
L
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a
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i
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5
L
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c
a
t
i
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6
BOD (mg/l)
COD (mg/l)









90
80
75
70
32
26
190
186
160 160
80
68
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
L
o
c
a
t
i
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n
1
L
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c
a
t
i
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n
2
L
o
c
a
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i
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3
L
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4
L
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a
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i
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5
L
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a
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i
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6
BOD (mg/l)
COD (mg/l)







4.828 4.806
6.717
1.65
1.52
1.63
1.55
18.89
20.67
10.384
17.24
18.86
17.5
16.35
0
5
10
15
20
25
2
4
/
4
/
2
0
1
2
1
5
/
5
/
2
0
1
2
3
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
7
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
3
0
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
4
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
2
8
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
TP (mg/l)
TN (mg/l)









Before
establishing the
wetland
After
establishing the
wetland
Figure 5.2 - Temporal variation of
BOD and COD at Location L-6
Figure 5.3 - Spatial variation of
BOD and COD on 24/4/2012
Figure 5.4 - Spatial variation of
BOD and COD on 28/9/2012
Figure 5.5 - Temporal variation
of TP and TN at Location L-4
Before
establishing the
wetland
After
establishing the
wetland
ENGINEER 70

9 ENGINEER
5.757
6.343
1.753
0.369 0.389 0.41
0.39
13.38
12.9
11.3
9.6
10.6
8.5
7.23
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
2
4
/
4
/
2
0
1
2
1
5
/
5
/
2
0
1
2
3
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
7
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
3
0
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
4
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
2
8
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
TP (mg/l)
TN (mg/l)










5.62
6.981
5.72
4.828 4.908
5.757
11.88
9.65
9.38
10.29
12.83
13.38
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
L
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c
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i
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1
L
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i
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2
L
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a
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i
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3
L
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a
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4
L
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c
a
t
i
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5
L
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a
t
i
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6
TP (mg/l)
TN (mg/l)










1.42
1.81
1.75 1.55
0.35 0.39
15.4
16.2
17.9
16.35
8.2
7.23
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
L
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L
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L
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3
L
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4
L
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a
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i
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5
L
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a
t
i
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6
TP (mg/l)
TN (mg/l)











553,000
420,250
650,000
1,025,000
530,000
760,000
830,000
0 0 0
94,000
32,080
51,00048,000
0
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
2
4
/
4
/
2
0
1
2
1
5
/
5
/
2
0
1
2
3
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
7
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
3
0
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
4
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
2
8
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
Chlorella
(units/ml)
Ankistrod
esmus
(units/ml)











Figure 5.6 - Temporal variation of
TP and TN at Location L-6
After
establishing the
wetland
Before
establishing the
wetland
Figure 5.7 - Spatial variation of TP
and TN on 24/4/2012
Figure 5.8 - Spatial variation of TP
and TN on 28/9/2012
Figure 5.9 - Temporal variation of
Chlorella and Ankistrodesmus at
Location L-4
Before
establishing the
wetland
After
establishing the
wetland
ENGINEER 71

ENGINEER 10
459,400
675,000
200,350
222,000
218,000
80,000 68,000
0 0 0
5,100 2,000 2,500
1,700
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
2
4
/
4
/
2
0
1
2
1
5
/
5
/
2
0
1
2
3
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
7
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
3
0
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
4
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
2
8
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
Chlorella
(units/ml)
Ankistrodesmu
s (units/ml)













547,000
336,000
267,400
153,000
810,200
759400
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
L
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n
1
L
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n
2
L
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3
L
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4
L
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c
a
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i
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n
5
L
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c
a
t
i
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n
6
Chlorella
(units/ml)









720,000
890,000
810,000
830,000
79,000
68,000
65,000
210,000
100,000
48,000
14,300
1,700
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
700,000
800,000
900,000
1,000,000
L
o
c
a
t
i
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n

1
L
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a
t
i
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n

2
L
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a
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i
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n

3
L
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c
a
t
i
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n

4
L
o
c
a
t
i
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n

5
L
o
c
a
t
i
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n

6
Chlorella
(units/ml
)










14,800
10,400
7,600
9,000
5,900
5200
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
L
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1
L
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L
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L
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4
L
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a
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5
L
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a
t
i
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n
6
Pandorina
(units/ml)







Figure 5.10 - Temporal variation
of Chlorella and Ankistrodesmus
at Location L-6
After
establishing the
wetland
Before
establishing the
wetland
Figure 5.11 - Spatial variation of
Chlorella on 24/4/2012
Figure 5.12 - Spatial variation of
Chlorella on 28/9/2012
Figure 5.13 - Spatial variation of
Pandorina on 24/4/2012
ENGINEER 72

11 ENGINEER
11,500
5,200
4,050
4,300
310 280
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
L
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1
L
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2
L
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3
L
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4
L
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5
L
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Pandorina
(units/ml)




1,500
900
0 0 0 0
0
1050
870
0 0 0 0 0
0
200
400
600
800
1,000
1,200
1,400
1,600
2
4
/
4
/
2
0
1
2
1
5
/
5
/
2
0
1
2
3
/
8
/
2
0
1
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1
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/
8
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0
1
2
3
0
/
8
/
2
0
1
2
1
4
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
2
8
/
9
/
2
0
1
2
Spirulina
(units/ml)
Oscillatoria
(units/ml)






5. Conclusions and
Recommendations

The following conclusions were inferred from
the study.
1. It was clear that all types of algae got
reduced remarkably with the introduction
of the floating wetland. The introduction of
wetland causes less solar intensity to be
available for algal growth hence reduction
in algal densities. Therefore, it can be
concluded that a floating wetland
consisting of water hyacinth plants is ideal
to control washout of algae from waste
stabilization ponds.

2. Further, root zone of vegetation cover
activated microbial assimilation of
carbonaceous compounds thereby
reduction of BOD and COD. Hence the
introduction of the wetland has proved to
be a good technique even to lessen the
organic loading flowing into the receiving
water body or in other words wetland
seems to be good option for polishing
effluent quality prior to discharge into
water bodies.

3. It has also proved that this is an ideal
technique to cut off excessive nutrients
from escaping to receiving water bodies
which would otherwise contribute to
eutrophication incidences in a great deal.


The introduction of carefully designed and
maintained floating wetlands inhabiting water
hyacinth plants would be recommended for
other WSPs of Sri Lanka in order to reduce the
algal washouts, to polish or refine the effluent
water quality and to reduce the escape of
nutrient such as N and P to nearby water
bodies with high percentage of success.

Acknowledgement
Authors wish to acknowledge the National
Water Supply & Drainage Board for granting
necessary financial support for making the
study possible and both University of
Moratuwa and University of Colombo for
providing laboratory facilities.

References

1. Arceivala S. J., 1981, Wastewater Treatment
and Disposal, Engineering and Ecology in
Pollution Control, Marcel Dekker, Inc,
Newyork,. pp 787-859.

2. AWWA (1991) Introduction to Water
treatment, Vol. 2, Denver, CO.

3. Horan, N. J. (1996). Biological Wastewater
Treatment Systems : Theory and Operation.
John Wiley and Sons.

4. Hosetti, B. and Frost, S. (1998). A Review of
the Control of the Biological Waste
Treatment.

5. Kayombo.S, Mbwette.T. S. A, Katima. J. H.
Y, Ladegaard N, Jorgensen S. E., Waste
Stabilization Ponds and Construction
Wetlands Design Manual, UNEP-IETC,
Danida.

6. Kim, Y. and Kim, W. J., Roles of Water
Hyacinths and their Roots for Reducing
Algal Concentrations in the Effluent from
Figure 5.14 - Spatial variation of
Pandorina on 28/9/2012
Figure 5.15 - Temporal variation
of Spirulina and Oscillatoria at
Location L-6
Before
establishing the
wetland
After
establishing the
wetland
ENGINEER 73

ENGINEER 12
Waste Stabilization Ponds, Water Res.,
34(1), 3285-3294 (2000).

7. Kumar, P. and Garde, R. J., Stratification in
Laboratory Simulation of Water Hyacinth
Ponds, J. Envion. Eng.,125(4), 382-384
(1999).

8. Mara, D. D. and Pearson, H. (1986).
Artificial Freshwater Environment: Waste
Stabilisation Ponds in Biotechnology A
Comprehensive Treatise 8. Rehm H. J. and
Red G. (Eds). Weinheim and
Verlagsgesellschaft.

9. Marais, G. V. R. (1974). Faecal Bacterial
Kinetics in Waste Stabilization Ponds.
Journal of the Environmental Engineering
Division, American Society of Civil
Engineers 100 (EEI): 119-139.

10. Oswald W. J. (1988a). Micro-Algae and
Wastewater Treatment. In: Mico-Algae
Biotechnology. M. A. Borowitzka and L. J.
Borowitska (eds). Cambridge University
Press pp 357-394.

11. Oswald W. J. (1988b). Large-Scale Algal
Culture Systems (Engineering Aspects). In:
Micro-Algae Biotechnology. M. A.
Borowitzka and L. J. Borowitska (eds).
Cambridge University Press pp 357-394.

12. Oswald W. J. (1991). Introduction of
Advanced Integrated Wastewater Ponding
System. Water Sci. Tech. 24(5), 1-7.

13. Pearson, H. W. (1996). Expanding the
Horizons of Pond Technology and
Application in an Environmentally
Conscious World. Wat. Sci. Tech. 33.7 pp 1-
9.

14. WEF and ASCE (1992) Designing of
Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants,
Vol. 2\quad\quad. Chapter 13, P. 834.
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ENGINEER 74
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