Increased Highway Resilience: Using Culvert Diffusers to Decrease Hydraulic Losses and Increase Capacity

Presenter: Alexander Mann
Institution / Organiztion / Agency: Maine Department of Transportation

Bio: Alexander Mann
Hydrologist, Surface Water Resources Division
Maine Department of Transportation
16 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0016
Ph. 207-215-6328 Alexander.Mann@maine.gov


Alex graduated from Penn State with a BS in Geosciences in 1983. He was employed as a field geophysicist for the Maine Geological Survey, then for Weston Geophysics, and finally for the Maine DOT. In 1995, he transitioned to Surface Water Hydrology within the DOT.
While doing geologic field work in Iceland, he was introduced to Micro-hydropower, and to the concept of using flared outlet diffusers to recover energy. Intrigued by this concept, he created an independent study course to study the effects of diffusers on pipe capacity using Computational Fluid Dynamics at the Federal Highways sponsored TRACC Computer at Argonne National Lab.
Alex subsequently created a research project through the Maine Department of Transportation with Federal Highways support to study an outlet diffuser’s ability to increase a culvert’s capacity. He proceeded to design, build and test an outlet diffuser in the field. Its performance has been monitored over the last 4 years. The results of this project have been published.