engineering

Penshurst Reservoirs

Penshurst Reservoirs is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Penshurst Reservoirs rather than just read about it. In short: The Penshurst Reservoirs are heritage-listed reservoirs located at Laycock Road, Penshurst in the Georges River Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. They were designed and built during 1895 by the NSW Public Works Department.

Key takeaways

Penshurst Reservoirs belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Penshurst Reservoirs to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Penshurst Reservoirs from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Penshurst Reservoirs are heritage-listed reservoirs located at Laycock Road, Penshurst in the Georges River Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. They were designed and built during 1895 by the NSW Public Works Department. The reservoirs are also known as WS87 & R88, Penshurst Elevated Steel Reservoir No 2 and Penshurst Elevated Concrete Reservoir No 3. The property is owned by Sydney Water, an agency of the Government of New South Wales. The site was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 18 November 1999.

History

In 1891 a cast iron elevated 0.09-megalitre (20,000 imp gal; 24,000 US gal) tank was constructed at Penshurst. Only the brick stand still survives. It was supplied with Upper Nepean Scheme water by a pumping station at Carlton. To augment supply, Penshurst Reservoir No. 1, a riveted steel surface reservoir, was constructed in 1895. By 1910, further growth in demand was met with the construction of the elevated Penshurst Reservoir No. 2 (WS87), a riveted steel elevated reservoir. Penshurst Tank was removed in 1914, first to Campbelltown and, in 1942, to Warragamba Township. The fourth reservoir, the elevated Penshurst Reservoir No. 3 (WS88), a large concrete elevated reservoir, was constructed in 1938. The elevated Penshurst Reservoir (WS87), built in 1910, is one of a group of four similar elevated reservoirs, the others being Bellevue Hill Reservoir (WS10), Drummoyne Reservoir (WS38), completed in 1910, and Ashfield Reservoir (WS3), completed in 1912. In the meantime, Lakemba Pumping Station took over supply for Penshurst in 1924, but also supplied Wiley Park and East Hills from 1930. Carlton pumping station continued in emergency service until decommissioned in 1939. Penshurst Reservoir No. 1 was removed in 1951 and re-erected at Newport. With plans to extend the Woronora Pipeline to the Metropolitan System, a Main was commenced in 1958 from Penshurst to Allawah. However, by 1961, it was realised that instead of Woronora supplying Sydney, the opposite would be the case, with Warragamba water supplementing areas supplied by Woronora. This situation required further amplification of the mains between the City Tunnel at Ashfield and the Penshurst Reservoirs, including a new main from the City Tunnel to Allawah, pumped by a new pumping station in Canterbury Park, together with a pumping station at Allawah to pump water to Penshurst. Completion of this scheme in 1969 allowed Warragamba water to be fed into the Woronora Pipeline in sufficient quantity to assist in the supply of Sutherland, Cronulla and beyond.

Description Penshurst Reservoir (WS87) is one of a group of four similar elevated reservoirs, the others being Bellevue Hill Reservoir (WS10), erected in 1910, Drummoyne Reservoir (WS38), erected in 1910, and Ashfield Reservoir (WS3), erected in 1912. Each reservoir is an elevated cylindrical riveted steel tank, resting on a concrete apron and supported on a steel girder frame. The perimeter of the steel stand has a façade of concrete columns and arches, which forms a decorative, rather than a structural feature. The walkway around the rim of the reservoir has been removed. Standard features include a handrail in tubular steel, davit, access ladder, depth gauge board, inlet and outlet valve chambers. The full service level is 92 metres (302 ft) and the reservoir has a capacity of 6.6 megalitres (1,500×10^3 imp gal; 1,700×10^3 US gal). The Penshurst Reservoir Site also includes the former Water Service Officer's Cottage, the concrete base of Penshurst Reservoir No. 1, the brick stand for Penshurst Tank (1891), valves and pipework associated with the connection in 1942 of the Woronora supply with Upper Nepean System water and a number of skid huts (3 in total). Significant plantings around the site include cypress, viburnum, jacaranda, camphor laurel, oleander and native species.

Modifications and dates The reservoir has been roofed to safeguard water quality (1977).

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Penshurst Reservoirs

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Penshurst Reservoirs claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Penshurst Reservoirs before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Penshurst Reservoirs ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Penshurst Reservoirs

In research: Penshurst Reservoirs appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Penshurst Reservoirs in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Penshurst Reservoirs is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1895 establishments in Australia, Buildings and structures completed in 1895, Dams in New South Wales, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Penshurst Reservoirs outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Penshurst Reservoirs in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Penshurst Reservoirs means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Penshurst Reservoirs out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Penshurst Reservoirs in simple terms?

Why does Penshurst Reservoirs matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Penshurst Reservoirs?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Penshurst Reservoirs.