Application of Intelligent Computational Techniques in Power Plants:A Review

Growing worldwide demand for energy leads to increasing the levels of challenge in power plants management. These challenges include but are not limited to complex equipment maintenance, power estimation under uncertainty, and energy optimisation. Therefore, efficient power plant management is required to increase the power plant’s operational efficiency. Conventional optimisation tools in power plants are not reliable as it is challenging to monitor, model and analyse individual and combined components within power systems in a plant. However, intelligent computational tools such as artificial neural networks (ANN), nature-inspired computations and meta-heuristics are becoming more reliable, offering a better understanding of the behaviour of the power systems, which eventually leads to better energy efficiency. This paper aims to provide an overview of the development and application of intelligent computational tools such as ANN in managing power plants. Also, to present several applications of intelligent computational tools in power plants operations management. The literature review technique is used to demonstrate intelligent computational tools in various power plants applications. The reviewed literature shows that ANN has the greatest potential to be the most reliable power plant management tool

Feasibility Evaluation of a Vibration-Based Leak Detection Technique for Sustainable Water Distribution Pipeline System Monitoring

Conventional water pipeline leak-detection surveys employ labor-intensive acoustic techniques, which are usually expensive and less useful for continuous monitoring of distribution pipelines. Based on a comprehensive review of literature and available commercial products, it has been recognized that despite previous studies and products attempting to address the limitations of the conventional surveys by proposing and evaluating a myriad of leak-detection techniques (LDTs), they lacked extensive validation on complex looped systems. Additionally, they offer limited compatibility with some pipe materials such as those made of plastic and may even fail to distinguish leaks from other system disturbances. A novel LDT that addresses some of these limitations is developed and evaluated in the current study using an experimental set-up that is representative of a real-world pipeline system and made of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipe. The studied LDT requires continuous monitoring of the change in the cross spectral density of surface vibration measured at discrete locations along the pipeline. This vibration-based LDT was hypothesized to be capable of not only detecting the onset of leakage, but also determining its relative severity in complex pipeline systems. Findings based on a two-phase, controlled experimental testing revealed that the proposed LDT is capable of detecting leakages and estimating their relative severities in a real-size, multi-looped pipeline system that is comprised of multiple joints, bends and pipes of multiple sizes. Furthermore, the sustainability merits of the proposed LDT for a representative application scenario are estimated. Specifically, life cycle costs and energy consumption for monitoring the large diameter pipelines in the water distribution system of the Charleston peninsula region in South Carolina are estimated by developing conceptual prototypes of the sensing, communication and computation schemes for practically employing the proposed LDT. The prototype designs are informed by the knowledge derived from the two-phase experimental testing campaign. Overall, the proposed study contributes to the body of knowledge on water pipeline leak detection, specifically to non-intrusive vibration-based monitoring, applications on plastic pipelines, and smart and sustainable network-wide continuous monitoring schemes

Advances in Modeling and Management of Urban Water Networks

The Special Issue on Advances in Modeling and Management of Urban Water Networks (UWNs) explores four important topics of research in the context of UWNs: asset management, modeling of demand and hydraulics, energy recovery, and pipe burst identification and leakage reduction. In the first topic, the multi-objective optimization of interventions on the network is presented to find trade-off solutions between costs and efficiency. In the second topic, methodologies are presented to simulate and predict demand and to simulate network behavior in emergency scenarios. In the third topic, a methodology is presented for the multi-objective optimization of pump-as-turbine (PAT) installation sites in transmission mains. In the fourth topic, methodologies for pipe burst identification and leakage reduction are presented. As for the urban drainage systems (UDSs), the two explored topics are asset management, with a system upgrade to reduce flooding, and modeling of flow and water quality, with analyses on the transition from surface to pressurized flow, impact of water use reduction on the operation of UDSs, and sediment transport in pressurized pipes. The Special Issue also includes one paper dealing with the hydraulic modeling of an urban river with a complex cross-section

Asset Management Tools for Sustainable Water Distribution Networks

Water Distribution Network (WDN) is the most important element in water supply systems. According to the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA), there are more than 112,000 kilometers of water mains in Canada and their replacement cost is estimated to be $34 billion. Since majority of pipelines are frequently above 100 years old, they are prone to failure and outbreaks of disease derivable to drinking water are inevitable. Breakage in water infrastructure can result in disruptions and damage to other surrounding infrastructure such as road networks or structures. Moreover, unscheduled emergency rehabilitation works can cause interruption to traffic, households and businesses. Therefore, it is important to assess the unknown condition of WDNs to find their respective rate of deterioration in order to prevent disastrous failures or sudden shutdowns. Determining pipe condition through cost-effective assessments will grant very poor condition pipes to be considered first in order to avoid related risk and devastating failures. The problem here is that in most cases, there are limited data about condition of water mains due to the underground location of the pipelines and their restricted access. Several pipes were installed 100 years ago and they have not been examined until a problem occurred. An extensive literature review shows the absence of comprehensive and generalized maintenance model for scheduling the rehabilitation and replacement of individual pipelines in the whole network based on their remaining useful life. Previous research efforts concentrated mostly on developing models, which utilize long-term data and consider solely the pipe segments not the whole network. Since pipe segments are connected together, the performance of one pipe affect the performance of other pipes in the neighborhood. This is the reason that pipes should be considered as a network rather than individual pipeline. This shows the need for a model which could forecast the behavior of each pipeline and the whole network based on available data simultaneously. This study aims to develop a model that can predict remaining useful life to optimize the needed intervention plans based on the available budget. For this purpose, a statistical condition model is developed which utilizes characteristics of a pipeline to predict its condition. In this model, Delphi study identifies the most important factors affecting deterioration of water pipelines at first, through three rounds of questionnaires sent to selected experts. The findings show that important factors are mainly physical factors such as pipe age, pipe material, etc. After that, Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and Entropy Shannon are employed to prioritize the selected factors in previous step and calculate their weights based on their relative importance. Results reveal that pipe installation, age and material are the most effective parameters in deterioration. These weights are used to find the condition index of the pipeline from pipe characteristics, soil and water properties. Upon determining the condition index, the remaining useful life is estimated using the developed artificial neural network (ANN). Ultimately, the budget is allocated efficiently and different repair and replacement strategies are scheduled based on the remaining useful life and breakage rate of the pipelines utilizing the developed near optimum Genetic Algorithm (GA)-based model. Data of the water distribution network of the city of Montréal is used to develop, train and validate the developed models. Results indicate that 30.7 km of the pipelines of Montreal should be replaced in the next 20 years and 2610 km are in need of both major and minor rehabilitations. This research proposes a framework for optimized replacement and maintenance plans based on the remaining useful life and condition of the pipelines which will help operators for efficient budget allocation and better management of needed intervention plans

Sensors Fault Diagnosis Trends and Applications

Fault diagnosis has always been a concern for industry. In general, diagnosis in complex systems requires the acquisition of information from sensors and the processing and extracting of required features for the classification or identification of faults. Therefore, fault diagnosis of sensors is clearly important as faulty information from a sensor may lead to misleading conclusions about the whole system. As engineering systems grow in size and complexity, it becomes more and more important to diagnose faulty behavior before it can lead to total failure. In the light of above issues, this book is dedicated to trends and applications in modern-sensor fault diagnosis

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Application of different irrigation management practices plays a considerable role in water saving to achieve potential yields. On the other hand, network water distribution schedule is a governing factor in this regard. In current study conducted in Mahabad plain in North West of Iran, four different irrigation managements on sugarbeet cultivation including traditional farmer's management, Furrow Deepening, Reduced Discharge per Deepened Furrow, and Alternate Furrow Irrigation have been studied in real farmers' fields measuring 10.2 hectares. Participatory management approach has been used while working in farmers' fields. Soils textures are silty clayey. Results of studies indicate that water used has been reduced considerably while higher root and sugar yields are obtained due to better on-farm water management practices. Water Use Efficiency, in kg of yield per m3 of water used, increased considerably under alternate furrow irrigation management in comparison to what obtained under traditional management. Results show application of alternate furrow irrigation in sugarbeet cultivation not only resulted in lesser water use per hectare, but also it increased both root and sugar yields and, consequently, higher water use efficiency was obtained. Assessments have been made on irrigation schedule imposed by the irrigation network and its effects on actual water requirements. Results show that the delivery schedule practiced in the network in incapable of delivering the actual amount of water requirement for the dominant crop of the scheme. Suggestions are made to the network operator to improve overall network efficiency including revisions on water resources planning and allocation and/or improve network operation system

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Since 3000 BC, rice has been the main crop in the Korean Peninsula, and where currently most of the available irrigation water is used to grow paddy rice. Methods for calculating the quantity of irrigation water required developed in the 1990's were compared to quantities measured in the field. The largest difference between calculated and measured quantities occurred in April and May. Based on field data we obtained in the middle part of the Korean Peninsula, significant changes have occurred in rice management, which has changed the amount of irrigation water required. Rice is now transplanted earlier, and duration of the transplanting phase on the regional scale is shorter through mechanization and consolidation of land holdings. These changes need to be taken into account when calculating the quantity of water needed for irrigation

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.Experiences establishing Water User Associations (WUAs) in Egypt have been carried out for the past 15 years, with increasingly promising results. Most of these activities have been pilot projects aiming to demonstrate the benefits and sustainability of WUAs. They were consequently implemented through a centralized and resource-intensive process and focused on limited numbers of associations. Since 2003, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) has adopted as policy the large-scale development of Branch Canal WUAs. With support from USAID, about 600 branch canal WUAs (BCWUAs) have since been established, covering 15% of Egypt's irrigated area and involving half a million farmers and residents. In order to achieve this impressive outcome, a different approach has been developed and implemented, emphasizing the direct involvement of MWRI field staff and a partnership between water users and MWRI managers. This paper also argues that the conventional approach of forming WUAs by focusing on water users, and empowering them to take over the O&M responsibilities of irrigation systems, is not adapted to the Egyptian context

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Salt management is a critical component of irrigated agriculture in arid regions. Successful crop production cannot be sustained without maintaining an acceptable level of salinity in the root zone. This requires drainage and a location to dispose drainage water, particularly, the salts it contains, which degrade the quality of receiving water bodies. Despite the need to generate drainage water to sustain productivity, many irrigation schemes have been designed and constructed with insufficient attention to drainage, to appropriate re-use or disposal of saline drainage water, and to salt disposal in general. To control the negative effects of drainage water disposal, state and federal agencies in several countries now are placing regulations on the discharge of saline drainage water into rivers. As a result, many farmers have implemented irrigation and crop management practices that reduce drainage volumes. Farmers and technical specialists also are examining water treatment schemes to remove salt or dispose of saline drainage water in evaporation basins or in underlying groundwater. We propose that the responsibility for salt management be combined with the irrigation rights of farmers. This approach will focus farmers' attention on salt management and motivate water delivery agencies and farmers to seek efficient methods for reducing the amount of salt needing disposal and to determine methods of disposing salt in ways that are environmentally acceptable

USCID fourth international conference

Presented at the Role of irrigation and drainage in a sustainable future: USCID fourth international conference on irrigation and drainage on October 3-6, 2007 in Sacramento, California.Includes bibliographical references.A In order to promote irrigation sustainability through reporting by irrigation water managers around Australia, we have developed an adaptive framework and methodology for improved triple-bottom-line reporting. The Irrigation Sustainability Assessment Framework (ISAF) was developed to provide a comprehensive framework for irrigation sustainability assessment and integrated triple-bottom-line reporting, and is structured to promote voluntary application of this framework across the irrigation industry, with monitoring, assessment and feedback into future planning, in a continual learning process. Used in this manner the framework serves not only as a "reporting tool", but also as a "planning tool" for introducing innovative technology and as a "processes implementation tool" for enhanced adoption of new scientific research findings across the irrigation industry. The ISAF was applied in case studies to selected rural irrigation sector organisations, with modifications to meet their specific interests and future planning