Abstract
Manholes are vertical shafts connecting underground sewers with street-level terminals. They are covered by heavy lids. During periods of heavy rainfall, the air column in the upper part of the manhole may be compressed to such high level that the lid moves up. Of course, this is a dangerous situation for pedestrians and road traffic. Bolting the lid may provide a solution to the problem, but it is known that air pressurization underneath can result in structural damage.
A simple model is proposed to describe the lifting of the lid (manhole cover). When the lid moves up, air is allowed to escape so that the lifting pressure decreases and the lid moves down, whereupon the air pressure increases again. This repetition might lead to the realistic phenomenon of the dancing manhole cover. Since the model is strongly nonlinear, interesting dynamic behavior is expected.
