scholarly journals Comparison of Multi-Criteria Decision Support Methods for Integrated Rehabilitation Prioritization

Water ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franz Tscheikner-Gratl ◽  
Patrick Egger ◽  
Wolfgang Rauch ◽  
Manfred Kleidorfer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Asset Management ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Management Scheme ◽  
Support Methods

The decisions taken in rehabilitation planning for the urban water networks will have a long lasting impact on the functionality and quality of future services provided by urban infrastructure. These decisions can be assisted by different approaches ranging from linear depreciation for estimating the economic value of the network over using a deterioration model to assess the probability of failure or the technical service life to sophisticated multi-criteria decision support systems. Subsequently, the aim of this paper is to compare five available multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods (ELECTRE, AHP, WSM, TOPSIS, and PROMETHEE) for the application in an integrated rehabilitation management scheme for a real world case study and analyze them with respect to their suitability to be used in integrated asset management of water systems. The results of the different methods are not equal. This occurs because the chosen score scales, weights and the resulting distributions of the scores within the criteria do not have the same impact on all the methods. Independently of the method used, the decision maker must be familiar with its strengths but also weaknesses. Therefore, in some cases, it would be rational to use one of the simplest methods. However, to check for consistency and increase the reliability of the results, the application of several methods is encouraged.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the impact of urban water systems on railways: The scenario of track flooding caused by a water main burst

2019 ◽  
Vol 234 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samane Faramehr ◽  
Hassan Hemida ◽  
Taku Fujiyama
Keyword(s):  
Water Supply ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Infrastructure Systems ◽  
Urban Water Systems ◽  
Railway System ◽  
Water Main ◽  
The Impact

Failures and disruption scenarios can reveal inherent but little known dependencies that exist between technical infrastructure systems. Whereas the dependencies between infrastructures in their normal state of operation are usually obvious and mutually correlated, interdependencies, when systems are disrupted, show a great deal of variety, depending on the specific scenario. The literature reveals the lack of a proper tool that can evaluate and quantify the scenario of track flooding caused by a water main burst, a cross-sectoral failure that can impact the operation of two urban infrastructure systems: the railways and the water supply. This work presents an approach to investigate the impact of urban water systems on railways and applies it to the case study of the Thameslink railway and Thames Water assets in London. The developed tool can be integrated into city level water supply GIS systems to facilitate the understanding of external risks (transport disruption) caused by an internal failure (water main bursts). Also, the results can help railway system operators facilitate the decision-making process in terms of drainage policy and maintenance activities.

Applying voting theory in participatory decision support for sustainable timber harvesting

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1511-1524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna Laukkanen ◽  
Teijo Palander ◽  
Jyrki Kangas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Timber Harvesting ◽  
Forest Area ◽  
Voting Theory ◽  
Rural Municipality ◽  
Support Methods ◽  
Decision Support Method ◽  
Support Decision Making

Several multi-criteria decision support methods have been introduced to sustainable management of natural resources, but different methods suit different planning situations. One way to support decision-making is to apply voting theory. In this study, a multi-criteria decision-support method based on voting theory, called multicriteria approval (MA), is applied to wood supply chain management in a forest area owned by the state of Finland. The area is called Leikko and is located in the rural municipality of Pieksämäki. MA seems to have some promising features in relation to participatory decision support. The most essential advantages are its ease and comprehensibility. MA is also able to deal with ordinal and imprecise information. Since the method does not demand much preference information from interest groups, the inquiries may be conducted using the Internet. In the case study, nine timber-harvesting alternatives were devised for the forest area. The study involved seven interest groups, whose representatives defined seven criteria by which the alternatives were compared. The purpose was to find a consensus or compromise solution for a practical harvesting schedule. Two different versions of MA were tested and compared from the participatory decision-support aspect. Usability and ease of method, the comprehensibility of the inquiries, and the congruence of the results were examined.

scholarly journals Enhancing resilience in urban water systems for future cities

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1343-1352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seith N. Mugume ◽  
Kegong Diao ◽  
Maryam Astaraie-Imani ◽  
Guangtao Fu ◽  
Raziyeh Farmani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Distributed Storage ◽  
Design Strategy ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Pipe Failure ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Urban Water Systems ◽  
Resilient Design

In future cities, urban water systems (UWSs) should be designed not only for safe provision of services but should also be resilient to emerging or unexpected threats that lead to catastrophic system failure impacts and consequences. Resilience can potentially be built into UWSs by implementing a range of strategies, for example by embedding redundancy and flexibility in system design, or by rehabilitation to increase their ability to maintain acceptable customer service levels during unexpected system failures. In this work, a new resilience analysis is carried out to investigate the performance of a water distribution system (WDS) and an urban drainage system (UDS) during pipe failure scenarios. Using simplified synthetic networks, the effect of implementing adaptation (resilient design) strategies on minimising the loss of system functionality and cost of UWSs is investigated. Study results for the WDS case study show that the design strategy in which flexibility is enhanced ensures that all customers are served during single pipe failure scenarios. The results of the UDS case study indicate that the design strategy incorporating upstream distributed storage tanks minimises flood volume and mean duration of nodal flooding by 50.1% and 46.7%, respectively, even when system functionality is significantly degraded. When costs associated with failure are considered, resilient design strategies could prove to be more cost-effective over the design life of UWSs.

scholarly journals Development of Decision Support Tool for Evaluation of Urban Water System Metabolism Efficiency

10.29007/r6xs ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Nikolic ◽  
Darko Joksimovic
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Decision Support Tool ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Water Systems ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Support Tool ◽  
Sustainable Solutions

The revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront presents the largest urban redevelopment project currently underway in North America. With respect to planning the waterfront’s urban water systems (UWS), a number of studies considered a range of criteria in search for sustainable alternatives. However, a comprehensive assessment of the integrated source-drinking-wastewater-stormwater systems over their life cycles has not been developed. According to the main postulates of the integrated approach, hybrid water systems can offer potentially more sustainable solutions than traditional centralized systems. This paper discusses the development process of a decision support tool designed to facilitate evaluation of alternatives based on UWS metabolism concept while addressing some typical challenges of hydroinformatics. This decision-making support tool analyses and compares the sustainability performance of alternative decentralized solutions against a baseline conventional approach on a neighbourhood level. The tool uses a set of criteria, adopted by the large group of stakeholders involved in the development process, that are not typically considered in the decision-making process, such as energy savings, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, climate change resiliency, chemical use, and nutrient recovery.

scholarly journals Strategies for Structural and Energy Improvement in Mid-Rise Unreinforced Masonry Apartment Buildings. A Case Study in Mestre (Northeast Italy)

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 8819
Author(s):  
Luca Sbrogiò ◽  
Carlotta Bevilacqua ◽  
Gabriele De Sordi ◽  
Ivano Michelotto ◽  
Marco Sbrogiò ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Energy Analysis ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
National Level ◽  
Average Increase ◽  
Apartment Building ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Gravity Load

Two-thirds of the Italian building stock was already built by the 1970s, largely according to gravity load design and using economical materials and poor workmanship. Currently, the structures, fixtures, and fittings of these buildings have reached the end of their service life, and they require both an assessment and an update to meet new standards and new needs. As an example of a common type, this article deals with the assessment of the present state and the proposal of an integrated structural and architectural intervention on an existing brick masonry mid-rise apartment building in the suburbs of Venice, Northern Italy. The structural analysis highlights a moderate vulnerability, despite the low seismic hazard, and the energy analysis indicates that the highest management costs are due to heating and sanitary uses. Low-impact strategies are preferred for each aspect of the required interventions. Their costs are counterbalanced by (a) the reduction to a fifth of the present management costs; (b) a 20% average increase in the economic value of the flats; and (c) a favorable tax regime at the national level. Transformed into parametric values, also useful for large scale analyses, these costs resulted in a sustainable monthly instalment from the owners, who may also benefit from the increased quality of the place where they live.

scholarly journals Urban Water Infrastructure Asset Management Plan: Case Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 459-467
Author(s):  
Bruno Ferreira ◽  
Nelson J. G. Carriço
Keyword(s):  
Asset Management ◽  
Management Plan ◽  
Supply System ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Plan Implementation ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Infrastructure Asset Management

AbstractThe current paper aims the application of the Portuguese infrastructure asset management (IAM) methodology to a case study. The inevitable degradation of urban water infrastructures creates new challenges for water utilities engineers and manager, as they need to decide which components should be rehabilitated to efficiently match the public’s demand, while still providing a qualitative and efficient service that doesn’t compromise the financial integrity of water utilities.This methodology is based on a five-step structured sequence - (i) definition of objectives assessment criteria and metrics; (ii) diagnosis; (iii) plan production; (iv) plan implementation; and (v) monitoring and revision – being structured in three distinct levels of planning and decision (i.e., strategic, tactical and operational). The IAM methodology was applied to a sixty-year-old water supply system (WSS) located in Lisbon’s metropolitan area, Portugal, mainly focused on steps (i) to (iii) and to the tactical level of planning. Results obtained are discussed and the main conclusions are presented.

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