Dr Andy Nichols
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Senior Lecturer in Water Engineering and Director of General Engineering
+44 114 222 0256
Full contact details
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Room E108
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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By developing new sensing and monitoring technologies, and new AI-driven asset management techniques, my research aims to improve water infrastructure management by reducing costs and risks, increasing safety, and maximising efficiency.
Dr Andrew Nichols
Andy joined the department in 2015 after working as a research associate on several industry and EPSRC-funded projects. He was appointed as a Lecturer for the new cross-faculty General Engineering interdisciplinary degree programme.
Part of Andy's research is dedicated to developing new sensing technology for the water industry, utilising optical, electrical, acoustic, and infrared principles. His expertise in instrumentation design facilitates the understanding of hydro-environmental processes. Additionally, he collaborates with companies to validate sensing technologies, and he serves as Chair of the Sensors for Water Interest Group (SWIG.org.uk).
Andy's research extends to investigating flowing water surfaces and developing technologies to measure them, enabling the identification of hydraulic processes. He aims to establish connections with other hydro-environmental processes such as greenhouse gas evasion, pollutant mixing, and sediment transport, resulting in international patents and national awards.
In addition to his work in the water industry, Andy specialises in novel machine learning-based methods for asset management. He has collaborated extensively with Network Rail on numerous projects focused on monitoring, modelling, and managing drainage infrastructure more effectively. His efforts aim to reduce failure and flood risks, safeguarding train operations and rail customers while enhancing overall asset management strategies. For his work in this field, he was awarded a Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowship.
His research spans from laboratory studies in collaboration with academic colleagues to field studies with industrial partners and local authorities. Andy's multidisciplinary approach and collaboration with industry partners underscore his commitment to addressing real-world challenges in engineering and environmental sciences.
- Research interests
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Water infrastructure
Sensor development
Infrastructure management
Asset degradation
Whole-life costing
Railway engineering
- Publications
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Journal articles
- Computational fluid dynamics simulation of rough bed open channels using openFOAM. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10. View this article in WRRO
- 3D printable self-propelling sensors for the assessment of water quality via surface tension. JCIS Open, 5, 100044-100044.
- Correction. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 60(2), iii-iii.
- Simulation of Railway Drainage Asset Service Condition Degradation in the UK Using a Markov Chain–Based Approach. Journal of Infrastructure Systems, 27(3), 04021023-04021023.
- The characteristics and in-sewer transport potential of solids derived from domestic food waste disposers. Water Science & Technology.
- Correction. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 59(2), ciii-ciii.
- Large-eddy simulation of turbulent free surface flow over a gravel bed. Journal of Hydraulic Research.
- Conductance-based interface detection for multi-phase pipe flow. Sensors, 20(20).
- Optimal use of titanium dioxide colourant to enable water surfaces to be measured by kinect sensors. Sensors, 20(12). View this article in WRRO
- Urban and river flooding : comparison of flood risk management approaches in the UK and China and an assessment of future knowledge needs. Water Science and Engineering, 12(4), 274-283. View this article in WRRO
- 3D SPH Simulation of Dynamic Water Surface and Its Interaction with Underlying Flow Structure for Turbulent Open Channel Flows Over Rough Beds. International Journal of Ocean and Coastal Engineering, 1(2). View this article in WRRO
- Cost effective measuring technique to simultaneously quantify 2D velocity fields and depth-averaged solute concentrations in shallow water flows. Flow Measurement and Instrumentation. View this article in WRRO
- SPHysics simulation of laboratory shallow free surface turbulent flows over a rough bed. Journal of Hydraulic Research/De Recherches Hydrauliques. View this article in WRRO
- SPH modelling of depth-limited turbulent open channel flows over rough boundaries. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Fluids, 83(1), 3-27. View this article in WRRO
- Finite difference time domain modelling of sound scattering by the
dynamically rough surface of a turbulent open channel flow. Applied Acoustics, 110, 13-22. View this article in WRRO
- A model of the free surface dynamics of shallow turbulent flows. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 54(5), 516-526. View this article in WRRO
- A non-invasive acoustical method to measure the mean roughness height of the free surface of a turbulent shallow water flow. Review of Scientific Instruments, 85(11). View this article in WRRO
- A non-invasive airborne wave monitor. Flow Measurement and Instrumentation, 34, 118-126. View this article in WRRO
- The pattern of surface waves in a shallow free surface flow. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-EARTH SURFACE, 118(3), 1864-1876. View this article in WRRO
- Low cost on-line non-invasive sewer flow monitoring. Water Practice and Technology, 8(3-4), 461-468. View this article in WRRO
- Acoustic scattering strength of turbulence generated waves in a shallow water flow. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130(4), 2436-2436.
- An investigation into the interaction of a grazing angle broadband spherical audio signal with the dynamically rough air–water interface of shallow flows in rivers and channels. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130(4), 2513-2513.
- Deduction of static surface roughness from complex excess attenuation. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 129(3), EL89-EL93.
- An airborne broadband acoustic method to measure the characteristics of a dynamically rough, air‐water interface.. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128(4), 2327-2327.
- An airborne monochromatic acoustic method to measure the hydraulic characteristics of shallow water flows.. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 128(4), 2327-2327.
- Objective phase-space identification of coherent turbulent structures in 1D time series data. Journal of Hydraulic Research, 1-15.
- Digital Image Correlation for stereoscopic measurement of water surface dynamics in a partially filled pipe. Acta Geophysica.
Chapters
- Sensing and control in urban drainage systems, ICE Handbook of Urban Drainage Practice (pp. 229-254). Emerald Publishing Limited
- Use of sensors in hydrological-hydraulic model calibration, ICE Handbook of Urban Drainage Practice (pp. 404-410).
- Potential Application of Mesh-Free SPH Method in Turbulent River Flows In Rowiński P & Marion A (Ed.), Hydrodynamic and Mass Transport at Freshwater Aquatic Interfaces View this article in WRRO
- Roughness parameters in shallow open-channel flows, River Flow 2014 (pp. 287-292). CRC Press
- Making Use of Turbulence and its Interaction with Sound: A Non-Invasive Flow Monitor, Fluid-Structure-Sound Interactions and Control (pp. 283-288). Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Conference proceedings papers
- Machine learning for data driven management of UK railway drainage infrastructure. Proceedings of the IAHR World Congress (pp 6658-6663)
- Experimental measurement of free surface and sub-surface properties in a partially filled pipe. Proceedings of the 39th IAHR World Congress, 19 June 2022 - 24 June 2022.
- Machine learning for data driven management of UK railway drainage infrastructure. Proceedings of the 39th IAHR World Congress, 19 June 2022 - 24 June 2022.
- An Integrated Model for Runoff, Flow, and Asset Degradation in UK Railway Drainage Systems. Proceedings of the IAHR World Congress (pp 6601-6607)
- Experimental measurement of free surface and sub-surface properties in a partially filled pipe. Proceedings of the IAHR World Congress (pp 5119-5126)
- An Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy Based Sensor for Sediment Hydraulic Permeability Estimation. Proceedings of the IAHR World Congress (pp 1843-1851)
- Experimental measurement of free surface and sub -surface properties in a partially filled pipe. PROCEEDINGS OF THE 39TH IAHR WORLD CONGRESS (pp 5119-5126)
- A Teaching Sandwich Approach to Integrating Classroom and Practical Teaching. 5 TH Annual Symposium of the United Kingdom & Ireland Engineering Education Research Network: “Time for Change” Symposium Proceedings (pp 87-90). London, UK, 23 November 2017 - 24 November 2017. View this article in WRRO
- Student-led online revision tools as an innovative assignment. 5 TH Annual Symposium of the United Kingdom & Ireland Engineering Education Research Network: “Time for Change” Symposium Proceedings (pp 117-117). London, UK, 23 November 2017 - 24 November 2017. View this article in WRRO
- Velocity distribution and mixing layer in partially vegetated channel. Proceedings of the 5th IAHR Europe Congress — New Challenges in Hydraulic Research and Engineering (pp 785-786). Trento, Italy, 12 June 2018 - 14 June 2018. View this article in WRRO
- Food waste particles: An under-explored class of sediment transport. Proceedings of the 5th IAHR Europe Congress - New challenges in hydraulic research and engineering (pp 727-728). Trento, Italy, 12 June 2018 - 14 June 2018. View this article in WRRO
- The Kinect sensor as a tool for remote flow characterisation. Proceeding of the 37th IAHR World Congress, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 13-18 August, 2017 (pp 5600-5607), 13 August 2017 - 18 August 2017. View this article in WRRO
- Remote sensing of environmental processes via low-cost 3d free-surface mapping. Proceedings of the 4th IAHR Europe Congress - Liege, Belgium, 27 July 2016 - 29 July 2016.
- Turbulent momentum exchange over a natural gravel bed (pp 210-217)
- Low-cost 3D mapping of turbulent flow surfaces (pp 186-192)
- TURBULENT FLOW SURFACE DYNAMICS. PROCEEDINGS OF THE 36TH IAHR WORLD CONGRESS (pp 3032-3041)
- Fluid-Structure-Sound Interactions and Control
- Shallow gravel-bed river flows: The behaviour of the free surface and the flow information contained within. River Flow 2014 (pp 301-309)
- Shallow gravel-bed river flows: The behaviour of the free surface and the flow information contained within (pp 301-309)
- A cartesian grid method flow shallow water flows over a gravel bed. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Hydroscience & Engineering, 4 November 2012 - 7 November 2012.
- Visualizing the variation in normality of a turbulent velocity field. River Flow 2012 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, Vol. 1 (pp 85-89)
- Characterization of shallow flows using novel acoustic instrumentation. River Flow 2012 - Proceedings of the International Conference on Fluvial Hydraulics, Vol. 2 (pp 1285-1292)
- An airborne acoustic method to monitor the hydraulic characteristics of shallow water flows. 34th IAHR Congress 2011 - Balance and Uncertainty: Water in a Changing World, Incorporating the 33rd Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium and the 10th Conference on Hydraulics in Water Engineering (pp 817-824)
- Ultrasonic characterisation of rough water surface in turbulent open channel flows. Proceedings of Forum Acusticum (pp 2451-2453)
- Sonic Characterisation of Water Surface Waves. ADVANCES IN HYDRAULIC PHYSICAL MODELING AND FIELD INVESTMENT AND INVESTIGATION (pp 40-47)
- Characterisation of particles from food waste disposers and their expected behaviour in sewers. Proceedings of the 14th IWA/IAHR International Conference on Urban Drainage View this article in WRRO
- Sensing of free-surface patterns in opaque flows using Kinect. Proceedings of HydroSenSoft 2017 View this article in WRRO
Theses / Dissertations
- FREE SURFACE DYNAMICS IN SHALLOW TURBULENT FLOWS.
Preprints
- Velocity and transverse mixing in open channel flow featuring interacting vegetated shear layers, Research Square Platform LLC.
- Computational fluid dynamics simulation of rough bed open channels using openFOAM. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 10. View this article in WRRO
- Research group
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Water - Environmental Fluid Mechanics
SuDS (Sustainable Drainage Systems) and Urban Drainage
- Grants
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Co-UDLABS (Building Collaborative Urban Drainage research lab communities) is a Horizon 2020 project funded under the Research Infrastructures programme (INFRAIA-02-2020 - Integrating Activities for Starting Communities).
The KTP project, in collaboration with Hydro International, will deliver a system for monitoring sediment loads and predicting maintenance requirements in stormwater treatment technologies.
- Teaching interests
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Interdisciplinary engineering
Engineering design
Fluid mechanics
- Teaching activities
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Andy is the Director of General Engineering, a unique interdisciplinary course at The University of Sheffield. Andy also teaches fluid mechanics and interdisciplinary design. Andy has developed and employed a number of novel techniques in his teaching, demonstrating these at pedagogical conferences and earning him several awards in recognition of his teaching excellence.
- Professional activities and memberships
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- Chair of the Sensors for Water Interest Group (SWIG)
- 21st Harold Jan Schoemaker Award for best paper in the Journal of Hydraulic Research
- Outstanding Teaching Award in the Sheffield Students Union Academic Awards 2018
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
- Member of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management
- Sheffield Early Career Researcher Scheme 2015
- CIWEM new generations competition 2012 winner
- IAHR UK young person’s paper competition 2012 winner
- SWIG early career researcher competition 2012 winner
- SET for Britain 2012 finalist
- Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowship in Railway Drainage Infrastructure Management
- PhD opportunities
Andy currently has capacity to take on a limited number of new PhD students. Please contact him directly if this is of interest.