scholarly journals Solving Management Problems in Water Distribution Networks: A Survey of Approaches and Mathematical Models

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oladipupo Bello ◽  
Adnan Abu-Mahfouz ◽  
Yskandar Hamam ◽  
Philip Page ◽  
Kazeem Adedeji ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Models ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Distribution Networks ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Management Problems ◽  
Utility Managers

Modern water distribution networks (WDNs) are complex and difficult to manage due to increased level of urbanization, varying consumer demands, ageing infrastructure, operational costs, and inadequate water resources. The management problems in such complex networks may be classified into short-term, medium-term, and long-term, depending on the duration at which the problems are solved or considered. To address the management problems associated with WDNs, mathematical models facilitate analysis and improvement of the performance of water infrastructure at minimum operational cost, and have been used by researchers, water utility managers, and operators. This paper presents a detailed review of the management problems and essential mathematical models that are used to address these problems at various phases of WDNs. In addition, it also discusses the main approaches to address these management problems to meet customer demands at the required pressure in terms of adequate water quantity and quality. Key challenges that are associated with the management of WDNs are discussed. Also, new directions for future research studies are suggested to enable water utility managers and researchers to improve the performance of water distribution networks.

scholarly journals CLIPS based decision support system for Water Distribution Networks

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kulshrestha ◽  
R. Khosa
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support System ◽  
Support System ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Utility Managers

Abstract. The Water Distribution Networks (WDN) are managed by experts, who, over the years of their association and responsibility, acquire an empirical knowledge of the system and, characteristically, this knowledge remains largely confined to their respective personal domains. In the event of any new information and/or emergence of a new problem, these experts apply simple heuristics to design corrective measures and cognitively seek to predict network performance. The human interference leads to inefficient utilization of resources and unfair distribution. Researchers over the past, have tried to address to the problem and they have applied Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool to automate the decision process and encode the heuristic rules. The application of AI tool in the field of WDN management is meager. This paper describes a component of an ongoing research initiative to investigate the potential application of artificial intelligence package CLIPS (short for C Language Integrated Production System, developed at NASA/Johnson Space Center) in the development of an expert decision support system for management of a water distribution network. The system aims to meet several concerns of modern water utility managers as it attempts to formalize operational and management experiences, and provides a frame work for assisting water utility managers even in the absence of expert personnel.

scholarly journals Pipe replacement by age only, how misleading could it be?

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 846-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Pardo ◽  
J. Valdes-Abellan
Keyword(s):  
Water Distribution ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Efficient Management ◽  
Utility Companies ◽  
Pipe Replacement ◽  
Energy Audits ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Traditional methods for prioritizing the renewal of water are based on heuristic models, such as the number of breaks per length, rule-of-thumb, and records held by the water utility companies. Efficient management of water distribution networks involves factoring in water and energy losses as the key criteria for planning pipe renewal. Prioritizing the replacement of a pipe according to the highest value of unit headloss due to ageing does not consider the impact on water and energy consumption for the whole network. Thus, this paper proposes a methodology to prioritize pipe replacement according to water and energy savings per monetary unit invested – economic prioritization. This renewal plan shows different results if comparing with replacing pipelines with regard to age and it requires calculating water and energy audits of the water distribution networks. Moreover, the required time to recover the investment performed needs to be calculated. The methodology proposed in this work is compared with the unit headloss criterion used in a real water-pressurized network. The results demonstrate that using the unit headloss criterion neither water, energy nor the investment is optimized. Significant water and energy savings are not fully exploited.

The emergence and evolution of reliability theory for water distribution networks

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyed Ashkan Zarghami ◽  
Indra Gunawan
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Reliability Analysis ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Network Reliability ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Distribution Networks ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Analysis Methods

PurposeAs a response to the growing operational and disruptive threats to water distribution networks (WDNs), researchers have developed a vast array of methods for the reliability analysis of WDNs. In order to follow this growing number of methods, this paper reviews and documents in one place the historical developments in the reliability analysis of WDN.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review (SLR) is carried out to summarize the state-of-the-art research on reliability analysis of WDNs. In conducting this systemic literature review, the authors adopted an iterative approach to define appropriate keywords, analyze and synthesize data and finalizing the classification results.FindingsFirst, the hydraulic approach to reliability analysis is currently pervasive, and relatively little academic research has addressed the topological reliability analysis of WDNs. Second, in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the network reliability, a different approach that integrates topological and hydraulic attributes seems a more effective method. Third, the conventional reliability analysis methods are only effective for demonstrating a snapshot of these networks at a given point in time. The availability of methods that enable researchers to evaluate the reliability in response to changes in its variables is still a major challenge.Originality/valueThe present paper facilitates future research in the reliability analysis of WDNs by providing a source of references for researchers and water utilities. Further, this article makes a contribution to the literature by offering a roadmap for future reliability analysis of WDNs by reviewing the evolution of the current reliability analysis methods throughout history.

Optimization of small hydropower systems in water distribution networks through evolutionary algorithms and water demand forecasting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Sitzenfrei ◽  
Lukas Schartner ◽  
Martin Oberascher
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Water Demand ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Volume ◽  
Hydropower Production ◽  
Water Surplus ◽  
Demand Forecasts

<p>The transition from fossil fuel to renewable energies represents the central challenge of the early 21st century. In this context, small hydro power systems (SHPS) can be implemented in water distribution networks (WDNs) to use pressure and drinking water surplus for hydropower production. However, inflow to SHPS is normally controlled based on the available water volume after ensuring a reliable drinking water supply and considering a fire-fighting reserve. Hence, the hydropower generation in WDNs has to be in accordance with its primary tasks. The challenge now is to optimally use the available pressure and water surplus for hydropower production while at the same time reliably fulfilling drinking water constraints.</p><p>In this work, future predictions of daily water demand are added into the control strategy of SHPS to optimize the operation. The control procedure of a SHPS is optimized by means of an evolutionary algorithm in combination with Monte-Carlo sampling. This is done for different categorized water demand and water source data in order to maximize profit while ensuring the WDNs reliable operation. Further, water demand forecasts of varying quality are evaluated in combination with previously optimized and categorized SHPS control-sets. For case study, a real WDN of an Alpine municipality is hypothetically retrofitted with a controllable SHPS. Different types of SHPS and turbine characterises are investigated using amount of hydropower production, more specifically profitability, as performance indicator.</p><p>While in literature, optimization is usually performed based on representative days (e.g., average day demand), long-term simulations over 10 years are used in this work. Therefore, a sufficient supply pressure in all water demand nodes in the WDN is ensured during this period. This results in a significant lower but more realistic estimation of potential benefits. The results also show, that after optimizing the SHPS location and device size, an additional potential increase of yearly profit of 1.1% can be achieved in the long-term operation of a Pelton turbine by considering water demand forecasts.</p>

A critical review of sensor location methods for contamination detection in water distribution networks

2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 95-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shweta Rathi ◽  
Rajesh Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Critical Review ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Distribution Networks ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Sensor Location ◽  
Sensor Network Design ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Location Methods ◽  
Contamination Events

Water distribution networks (WDNs) are vulnerable to various types of contamination events that may have impacts on human health and the environment. Therefore, there is a growing need to design an effective monitoring system. Due to the cost of both placing and maintaining the sensors, their numbers must be limited. This constraint makes the sensor deployment locations crucial in water monitoring systems. Several methodologies have been suggested in the past two decades by different researchers for placement of sensors in WDNs. These methodologies differ in many ways depending on the number of objectives, solution methodology, concentration level of contaminant considered, type of simulation, and so on. In this paper, various methodologies have been broadly classified based on the number of performance objectives as single and multi-objective sensor location problems. Some of the features of these methodologies are also mentioned to help understand the advantages of a particular method over other methods. A critical review of literature is presented. Some of the issues on which a consensus is being developed amongst researchers are discussed and recommendations are made with a view to suggest future research needs for sensor network design of large WDNs.

scholarly journals Flexible investment planning for water distribution networks

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Pellegrino ◽  
N. Costantino ◽  
O. Giustolisi
Keyword(s):  
Water Distribution ◽  
Pareto Front ◽  
Optimization Technique ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Water Distribution Networks ◽  
General Strategy ◽  
Post Processing ◽  
Investment Planning ◽  
Innovative Strategy

Abstract The present work focuses on the planning of water distribution networks (WDNs). The research proposes an innovative strategy which aims at helping water managers formulate flexible investment plans while allowing for adaptive management under the increasing unawareness of medium–long term planning. This innovative strategy differs from existing strategies accounting for flexibility in WDN design. It allows for developing flexible investment plans without assuming that statistic or deterministic assumptions can account for all unawareness. The strategy introduces the key idea of technical contiguity of actions/solutions by post-processing a Pareto front obtained by a classic optimization technique in order to obtain sequential actions. This means retrieval of a set of ‘technically contiguous’ actions from the Paretian solutions, namely, by increasing the investment each action needs to contain the previous one. The application to the Apulian network allows discussion of the need for post-processing the Pareto front of solutions returned by the classic multi-objective design optimization and presenting the general strategy to obtain adaptive and flexible investment plans. We discuss further perspectives of the proposed strategy based on the integration of different flexible plans, each obtained with different assumptions, which could be statistic or deterministic, for the system boundary conditions.

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