Condition Assessment Models for Sewer Pipelines

Underground pipeline system is a complex infrastructure system that has significant impact on social, environmental and economic aspects. Sewer pipeline networks are considered to be an extremely expensive asset. This study aims to develop condition assessment models for sewer pipeline networks. Seventeen factors affecting the condition of sewer network were considered for gravity pipelines in addition to the operating pressure for pressurized pipelines. Two different methodologies were adopted for models’ development. The first method by using an integrated Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) and Monte-Carlo simulation and the second method by using FANP, fuzzy set theory (FST) and Evidential Reasoning (ER). The models’ output is the assessed pipeline condition. In order to collect the necessary data for developing the models, questionnaires were distributed among experts in sewer pipelines in the state of Qatar. In addition, actual data for an existing sewage network in the state of Qatar was used to validate the models’ outputs. The “Ground Disturbance” factor was found to be the most influential factor followed by the “Location” factor with a weight of 10.6% and 9.3% for pipelines under gravity and 8.8% and 8.6% for pipelines under pressure, respectively. On the other hand, the least affecting factor was the “Length” followed by “Diameter” with weights of 2.2% and 2.5% for pipelines under gravity and 2.5% and 2.6% for pipelines under pressure. The developed models were able to satisfactorily assess the conditions of deteriorating sewer pipelines with an average validity of approximately 85% for the first approach and 86% for the second approach. The developed models are expected to be a useful tool for decision makers to properly plan for their inspections and provide effective rehabilitation of sewer networks.1)- NPRP grant # (NPRP6-357-2-150) from the QatarNational Research Fund (Member of Qatar Foundation) 2)-Tarek Zayed, Professor of Civil Engineeringat Concordia University for his support in the analysis part, the Public Works 3)-Authority of Qatar (ASHGAL) for their support in the data collection

Data-Based Modeling: Application in Process Identification, Monitoring and Fault Detection

Present thesis explores the application of different data based modeling techniques in identification, product quality monitoring and fault detection of a process. Biodegradation of an organic pollutant phenol has been considered for the identification and fault detection purpose. A wine data set has been used for demonstrating the application of data based models in product quality monitoring. A comprehensive discussion was done on theoretical and mathematical background of different data based models, multivariate statistical models and statistical models used in the present thesis.The identification of phenol biodegradation was done by using Artificial Neural Networks (namely Multi Layer Percetprons) and Auto Regression models with eXogenious inputs (ARX) considering the draw backs and complications associated with the first principle model. Both the models have shown a good efficiency in identifying the dynamics of the phenol biodegradation process. ANN has proved its worth over ARX models when trained with sufficient data with an efficiency of almost 99.99%. A Partial Least Squares (PLS) based model has been developed which can predict the process outcome at any level of the process variables (within the range considered for the development of the model) at steady state. Three continuous process variables namely temperature, pH and RPM were monitored using statistical process monitoring. Both univariate and multivariate statistical process monitoring techniques were used for the fault detection purpose. X-bar charts along with Range charts were used for univariate SPM and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been used for multivariate SPM. The advantage of multivariate statistical process monitoring over univariate statistical process monitoring has been demonstrated

Optimal sensor placement for sewer capacity risk management

2019 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Complex linear assets, such as those found in transportation and utilities, are vital to economies, and in some cases, to public health. Wastewater collection systems in the United States are vital to both. Yet effective approaches to remediating failures in these systems remains an unresolved shortfall for system operators. This shortfall is evident in the estimated 850 billion gallons of untreated sewage that escapes combined sewer pipes each year (US EPA 2004a) and the estimated 40,000 sanitary sewer overflows and 400,000 backups of untreated sewage into basements (US EPA 2001). Failures in wastewater collection systems can be prevented if they can be detected in time to apply intervention strategies such as pipe maintenance, repair, or rehabilitation. This is the essence of a risk management process. The International Council on Systems Engineering recommends that risks be prioritized as a function of severity and occurrence and that criteria be established for acceptable and unacceptable risks (INCOSE 2007). A significant impediment to applying generally accepted risk models to wastewater collection systems is the difficulty of quantifying risk likelihoods. These difficulties stem from the size and complexity of the systems, the lack of data and statistics characterizing the distribution of risk, the high cost of evaluating even a small number of components, and the lack of methods to quantify risk. This research investigates new methods to assess risk likelihood of failure through a novel approach to placement of sensors in wastewater collection systems. The hypothesis is that iterative movement of water level sensors, directed by a specialized metaheuristic search technique, can improve the efficiency of discovering locations of unacceptable risk. An agent-based simulation is constructed to validate the performance of this technique along with testing its sensitivity to varying environments. The results demonstrated that a multi-phase search strategy, with a varying number of sensors deployed in each phase, could efficiently discover locations of unacceptable risk that could be managed via a perpetual monitoring, analysis, and remediation process. A number of promising well-defined future research opportunities also emerged from the performance of this research

Advances in the Optimization of Energy Systems and Machine Learning Hyperparameters

Intensifying public concern about climate change risks has accelerated the push for more tangible action in the transition toward low-carbon or carbon-neutral energy. Concurrently, the energy industry is also undergoing a digital transformation with the explosion in available data and computational power. To address these challenges, systematic decision-making strategies are necessary to analyze the vast array of technology options and information sources while navigating this energy transition. In this work, mathematical optimization is utilized to answer some of the outstanding issues around designing cleaner processes from resources such as natural gas and renewables, operating the logistics of these energy systems, and statistical modeling from data. First, exploiting natural gas to produce lower emission liquid transportation fuels is investigated through an optimization-based process synthesis. This extends previous studies by incorporating chemical looping as an alternative syngas production method for the first time. Second, a similar process synthesis approach is implemented for the optimal design of a novel biomass-based process that coproduces ammonia and methanol, improving their production flexibility and profit margins. Next, operational difficulties with solar and wind energies due to their temporal intermittency and uneven geographical distribution are tackled with a supply chain optimization model and a clustering decomposition algorithm. The former describes power generation through energy carriers (hydrogen-rich chemicals) connecting resource-dense rural areas to resource-deficient urban centers. Results show the potential of energy carriers for long-term storage. The latter is developed to identify the appropriate number of representative time periods for approximating an optimization problem with time series data, instead of using a full time horizon. This algorithm is applied to the simultaneous design and scheduling of a renewable power system with battery storage. Finally, building machine learning models from data is commonly performed through k-fold cross-validation. From recasting this as a bilevel optimization, the exact solution to hyperparameter optimization is obtainable through parametric programming for machine learning models that are LP/QP. This extends previous results in statistics to a broader class of machine learning models

Pathways to Water Sector Decarbonization, Carbon Capture and Utilization

The water sector is in the middle of a paradigm shift from focusing on treatment and meeting discharge permit limits to integrated operation that also enables a circular water economy via water reuse, resource recovery, and system level planning and operation. While the sector has gone through different stages of such revolution, from improving energy efficiency to recovering renewable energy and resources, when it comes to the next step of achieving carbon neutrality or negative emission, it falls behind other infrastructure sectors such as energy and transportation. The water sector carries tremendous potential to decarbonize, from technological advancements, to operational optimization, to policy and behavioural changes. This book aims to fill an important gap for different stakeholders to gain knowledge and skills in this area and equip the water community to further decarbonize the industry and build a carbon-free society and economy. The book goes beyond technology overviews, rather it aims to provide a system level blueprint for decarbonization. It can be a reference book and textbook for graduate students, researchers, practitioners, consultants and policy makers, and it will provide practical guidance for stakeholders to analyse and implement decarbonization measures in their professions

Smart Urban Water Networks

This book presents the paper form of the Special Issue (SI) on Smart Urban Water Networks. The number and topics of the papers in the SI confirm the growing interest of operators and researchers for the new paradigm of smart networks, as part of the more general smart city. The SI showed that digital information and communication technology (ICT), with the implementation of smart meters and other digital devices, can significantly improve the modelling and the management of urban water networks, contributing to a radical transformation of the traditional paradigm of water utilities. The paper collection in this SI includes different crucial topics such as the reliability, resilience, and performance of water networks, innovative demand management, and the novel challenge of real-time control and operation, along with their implications for cyber-security. The SI collected fourteen papers that provide a wide perspective of solutions, trends, and challenges in the contest of smart urban water networks. Some solutions have already been implemented in pilot sites (i.e., for water network partitioning, cyber-security, and water demand disaggregation and forecasting), while further investigations are required for other methods, e.g., the data-driven approaches for real time control. In all cases, a new deal between academia, industry, and governments must be embraced to start the new era of smart urban water systems

Pathways to Water Sector Decarbonization, Carbon Capture and Utilization

The water sector is in the middle of a paradigm shift from focusing on treatment and meeting discharge permit limits to integrated operation that also enables a circular water economy via water reuse, resource recovery, and system level planning and operation. While the sector has gone through different stages of such revolution, from improving energy efficiency to recovering renewable energy and resources, when it comes to the next step of achieving carbon neutrality or negative emission, it falls behind other infrastructure sectors such as energy and transportation. The water sector carries tremendous potential to decarbonize, from technological advancements, to operational optimization, to policy and behavioural changes. This book aims to fill an important gap for different stakeholders to gain knowledge and skills in this area and equip the water community to further decarbonize the industry and build a carbon-free society and economy. The book goes beyond technology overviews, rather it aims to provide a system level blueprint for decarbonization. It can be a reference book and textbook for graduate students, researchers, practitioners, consultants and policy makers, and it will provide practical guidance for stakeholders to analyse and implement decarbonization measures in their professions

Novel strategies for process control based on hybrid semi-parametric mathematical systems

Tese de doutoramento. Engenharia Química. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 201