Mechanical · MEP (Plumbing Systems)

Wastewater & Drainage System Design

Beginner 3 weeks 20-40 hours

Build a scaled drainage rig with sloped pipes and measure real flow at different slopes. Validate the code-based sizing rules against your measured flow capacity.

Major

Mechanical

Focus area

MEP (Plumbing Systems)

Total hours

20-40 hours

What you'll need

  • PVC pipe and fittings assortment kit
  • YF-S201 water flow sensor hall effect flowmeter
  • 12V DC submersible water pump for Arduino
  • Arduino Uno R3 ATmega328P microcontroller board
  • aluminum extrusion frame adjustable angle
  • plastic reservoir bucket container
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Steps

  1. Look up plumbing code sizing and minimum slope rules for drain pipes.
  2. Build a sloped PVC drain on the adjustable frame with the pump feeding water from the bucket.
  3. Install the flow sensor and program the Arduino to log flow rate.
  4. Measure maximum flow capacity at 3 or more slopes and 2 pipe sizes.
  5. Compare measured capacity to the code-based sizing rules.
  6. Chart flow vs. slope and document the rig for your portfolio.

What to photograph for your portfolio

  • Drainage rig
  • flow vs slope data
  • capacity validation
  • slope verification

Resume bullet starters

Copy one, then swap in your own numbers.

  • Designed and built a wastewater & drainage system design using Drainage design, fluid mechanics, flow measurement

  • Applied plumbing codes to implement, test, and validate the system end-to-end

Skills you'll show off

Drainage designfluid mechanicsflow measurementplumbing codes

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