Dr James Shucksmith
PhD
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Senior Lecturer in Water Engineering
+44 114222 5706
Full contact details
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Room F130
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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My research aims to develop effective, data led management strategies for water infrastructure systems
Dr James Shucksmith
James completed his undergraduate degree and his PhD here in the Department, before joining the academic staff in 2010 after a period as a KTP associate with Yorkshire Water.
His research interests focus on the hydrodynamics of flooding as well as water quality/transport modelling in the context of urban drainage networks and river systems. He has worked on a wide range of EPSRC, EU and water sector sponsored activities, with a number of project outputs currently being used in practice.
He is a co-director of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Water Infrastructure and Resilience.
- Research interests
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Key research activities include
Hydrodynamics of urban flooding, including the interaction of drainage and surface flows in urban contexts and the transport of contaminated material in floodwater. Model validation utilising experimental data
Water quality transport processes in river networks, the development of water quality forecasting tools for surface water abstraction management.
Development and implementation of local real time control systems for urban drainage networks, for spill overflow and urban flood reduction.
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Forecasting acute rainfall driven E. coli impacts in inland rivers based on sewer monitoring and field runoff. Water Research, 248, 120838-120838.
- Exchange between drainage systems and surface flows during urban flooding: Quasi-steady and dynamic modelling in unsteady flow conditions. Journal of Hydrology, 602.
- On the Characteristics of Velocities Fields in the Vicinity of Manhole Inlet Grates During Flood Events. Water Resources Research, 54(9), 6408-6422. View this article in WRRO
- Modelling of metaldehyde concentrations in surface waters: A travel time based approach. Journal of Hydrology, 562, 397-410. View this article in WRRO
- Experimental calibration and validation of sewer/surface flow exchange equations in steady and unsteady flow conditions. Journal of Hydrology, 552, 421-432. View this article in WRRO
- Quantifying the Impact of Water Abstraction for Low Head ‘Run of the River’ Hydropower on Localized River Channel Hydraulics and Benthic Macroinvertebrates. River Research and Applications, 33(2), 202-213. View this article in WRRO
- Importance of partial barriers and temporal variation in flow when modelling connectivity in fragmented river systems. Ecological Engineering, 91, 515-528. View this article in WRRO
- Predicting combined sewer overflows chamber depth using artificial neural networks with rainfall radar data.. Water Sci Technol, 69(6), 1326-1333. View this article in WRRO
- Bulk flow resistance in vegetated channels: Analysis of momentum balance approaches based on data obtained in aging live vegetation. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 137(12), 1624-1635.
- Determining longitudinal dispersion coefficients for submerged vegetated flow. Water Resources Research, 47(10).
- Effects of emergent and submerged natural vegetation on longitudinal mixing in open channel flow. Water Resources Research, 46(4).
- Importance of advective zone in longitudinal mixing experiments. Acta Geophysica, 55(1), 95-103.
- Forecasting acute rainfall driven E. coli impacts in inland rivers based on sewer monitoring and field runoff. Water Research, 248, 120838-120838.
- Research group
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Water - SuDS (Sustainable drainage systems) & Urban Drainage, Water - Catchments & River Engineering
- Grants
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Current Grants
Previous Grants (Last 5 years)
Real Time Absraction Management
This project, conducted in collaboration with Severn Trent Water, aims to implement a modelling lead approach to surface water abstraction operation.
- Teaching interests
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My teaching experience includes both fundamental hydraulic principles, as well as more applied topics such as flood risk analysis and modelling.
- Teaching activities
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I currently lead the teaching of Open Channel Flow Hydraulics to undergraduate students on our Civil Engineering Degree programmes. I am the current Chair of the Water Teaching Group
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Coordinator of the STREAM Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Sheffield.
- Winner of the 2010 SWIG (Sensors for Water Interest Group) early career researchers' prize.
- Winner of the 2015 Water and Environment Journal ‘Outstanding paper of the year award’
- Potential PhD offerings
Understanding Urban Flooding Using Physical Modelling
This project will involve experimental work using a unique surface/subsurface scale model of an urban drainage facility within the water laboratory. Students working on this project will utilise state of the art measuring techniques such as PIV to obtain new datasets describing flows in and around interface points. It is hoped that this project will lead to a more reliable methodology to describe surface/sewer flow interactions during flood events, reducing the uncertainty inherent within flood model predictions.
If you're interested in one of these projects, or would like to self-propose a project, please contact James at the above email. Current PhD opportunities in the department can be viewed here.