What is the application of inverted siphons? What are the disadvantages of using inverted siphons?
Answer: Inverted siphons are designed at locations in which a sewer system is blocked by underground utilities or storm-water drains. They are sometimes called depressed sewers because it is claimed that there is no actual siphon action. They connect the upstream and downstream sewers with U-shaped vertical alignment such that they are always running full.
The drawbacks of inverted siphons are:
Answer: Inverted siphons are designed at locations in which a sewer system is blocked by underground utilities or storm-water drains. They are sometimes called depressed sewers because it is claimed that there is no actual siphon action. They connect the upstream and downstream sewers with U-shaped vertical alignment such that they are always running full.
The drawbacks of inverted siphons are:
- They induce additional head loss to the sewer system which is undesirable in hydraulic performance;
- U-shaped siphons create sediment accumulation problem and previous experience showed that inverted siphons were easily blocked due to siltation;
- Maintenance of invert siphons is difficult due to its inaccessibility.
