Preface

De formigó blanc, ceràmica, acer inoxidable i arbres, mesura 7,02 x 5,13 x 4,44 metres.Bergeron, Valérie (dissenyadora)Pla general de l'obra. consistia en la plantació de tres espècies vegetals al voltant d'una talla mètrica de formigó enrajolada, de set metres d'alçada, que havia de servir per mesurar els diferents ritmes de creixement dels arbres triats

Accounting for Local Water Storages in Assessing WDN Supply Capacity

AbstractIn many real WDNs, as in the Mediterranean area, customers are traditionally supplied by local water storages (i.e. roof or basement tanks) fed from the top by service pipes of the urban WDN through volume-controlled orifices. The present contribution shows that the prediction of WDN water supply capacity achieved by a model accounting for the filling/emptying of local tanks, is different from both classical demand-driven analysis and the pressure-driven analysis based on Wagner's demand-pressure relationship at each node. The WDNetXL system (www.hydroinformatics.it) is used to perform multiple simulation runs to assess WDN capacity under increasing demand scenarios

Supporting Decision on Energy vs. Asset Cost Optimization in Drinking Water Distribution Networks

AbstractOne of the challenges for water utilities is the optimal asset design (i.e. maximum power of pump systems, tank volumes and pipe diameters) of water distribution networks (WDN) while optimizing operational efficiency (i.e. energy consumption and cost). Besides the classical minimization of capital cost while providing sufficient supply service, the operational sustainability is an emerging issue. As the reduction of each component of capital and energy costs are conflicting with each other, the optimization problem is multi-objective. This work presents the study of the robustness of solutions of the Pareto set as a further element to support the decision

Analysis of the isolation valve system in water distribution networks using the segment graph

The mechanical reliability of Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) is a relevant technical and scientific issue. During planned maintenance or unplanned interruptions, the affected area must be isolated by valves shutdown. This operation involves the alteration of the network structure, i.e., the domain of the hydraulic system, and for this reason the isolation valve system plays a central role. Some studies started to consider the presence of the isolation valve system in WDNs reliability analysis. Accordingly, this work uses the Complex Network Theory to analyse the isolation valve system performance and to assess the importance of the segments generated by valves shutdown. Differently from the classic complex network theory approach, in this work the recently proposed WDN-relevance-based betweenness centrality is applied to the segment graph to introduce information about the relevance of the different elements into the network, considering geometric and hydraulic parameters, such as length, demand, risk of disconnection, etc. The proposed strategy also suggests an improvement in the representation of the segment graph with respect to the presence of parallel edges. The strategy is presented using a small network, while it is demonstrated and discussed using a real WDN. The results indicate that the WDN-relevance-based betweenness centrality allows to effectively assess the importance of the segments generated by valves shutdowns, also providing indications to improve the isolation valve system design

Water network design using a multiobjective real options framework

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Water distribution networks (WDNs) are an essential element of urban infrastructure. To achieve a good level of performance, the traditional design of WDNs based on expected future conditions should be replaced by a flexible design, using real options (ROs), that accounts for uncertainty by taking a broader view of possible future options. This work proposes a multiobjective ROs framework that sets out to reduce costs, minimize hydraulic pressure deficiency, and a third objective for minimizing carbon emissions. A multiobjective simulated annealing algorithm is used to identify the Pareto-optimal solutions, thus enabling a tradeoff analysis between solutions. These trade-offs show that a low pressure deficit solution is achieved by increasing investment at a much faster rate after a certain pressure deficit threshold (60 m). Also, the pressure deficits can only be reduced by increasing carbon emissions. Finally, this work also emphasizes the importance of including carbon emissions as a specific objective by comparing the results of the proposed model and another one that did not cover the environmental objective. The results show that it is possible to reduce CO2 for the same level of capital expenditure or the same level of network pressure deficits if carbon emissions are minimized in the optimization process.This study had the support of Fundac¸ao para a Ci ˜ encia e ˆ Tecnologia (FCT), through the Strategic Project UID/MAR/ 04292/2013 granted to MARE

Detecting anomalies in water distribution networks using EPR modelling paradigm

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IWA Publishing via the DOI in this record.Sustainable management of water distribution networks (WDNs) requires effective exploitation of available data from pressure/flow devices. Water companies collect a large amount of such data, which need to be managed correctly and analysed effectively using appropriate techniques. Furthermore, water companies need to balance the data gathering and handling costs with the benefits of extracting useful information. Recent approaches implementing data mining techniques for analysing pressure/flow data appear very promising, because they can automate mundane tasks involved in data analysis process and efficiently deal with sensor data collected. Furthermore, they rely on empirical observations of a WDN behaviour over time, allowing reproducing/predicting possible future behaviour of the network. This paper investigates the effectiveness of the evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR) paradigm to reproduce the behaviour of a WDN using online data recorded by low-cost pressure/flow devices. Using data from a real district metered area, the case study presented shows that by using the EPR paradigm a model can be built which enables the accurate reproduction and prediction of the WDN behaviour over time and detection of flow anomalies due to possible unreported bursts or unknown increase of water withdrawal. Such an EPR model might be integrated into an early warning system to raise alarms when anomalies are detected.The research reported in this paper was founded by two projects of the Italian Scientific Research Program of National Interest PRIN-2012: ‘Analysis tools for management of water losses in urban aqueducts’ and ‘Tools and procedures for advanced and sustainable management of water distribution networks’

INPUT SELECTION BY EPR-MOGA

The growing availability of field data, from information and communication technologies (ICTs) in "smart'' urban infrastructures, allows data modeling to understand complex phenomena and to support management decisions. Among the analyzed phenomena, those related to storm water quality modeling have recently been gaining interest in the scientific literature. Nonetheless, the large amount of available data poses the problem of selecting relevant variables to describe a phenomenon and enable robust data modeling. This paper presents a procedure for the selection of relevant input variables using the multi-objective evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR-MOGA) paradigm. The procedure is based on scrutinizing the explanatory variables that appear inside the set of EPR-MOGA symbolic model expressions of increasing complexity and goodness of fit to target output. The strategy also enables the selection to be validated by engineering judgement. In such context, the multiple case study extension of EPR-MOGA, called MCS-EPR-MOGA, is adopted. The application of the proposed procedure to modeling storm water quality parameters in two French catchments shows that it was able to significantly reduce the number of explanatory variables for successive analyses. Finally, the EPR-MOGA models obtained after the input selection are compared with those obtained by using the same technique without benefitting from input selection and with those obtained in previous works where other data-modeling techniques were used on the same data. The comparison highlights the effectiveness of both EPR-MOGA and the input selection procedure

Pressure-dependent EPANET extension

In water distribution systems (WDSs), the available flow at a demand node is dependent on the pressure at that node. When a network is lacking in pressure, not all consumer demands will be met in full. In this context, the assumption that all demands are fully satisfied regardless of the pressure in the system becomes unreasonable and represents the main limitation of the conventional demand driven analysis (DDA) approach to WDS modelling. A realistic depiction of the network performance can only be attained by considering demands to be pressure dependent. This paper presents an extension of the renowned DDA based hydraulic simulator EPANET 2 to incorporate pressure-dependent demands. This extension is termed “EPANET-PDX” (pressure-dependent extension) herein. The utilization of a continuous nodal pressure-flow function coupled with a line search and backtracking procedure greatly enhance the algorithm’s convergence rate and robustness. Simulations of real life networks consisting of multiple sources, pipes, valves and pumps were successfully executed and results are presented herein. Excellent modelling performance was achieved for analysing both normal and pressure deficient conditions of the WDSs. Detailed computational efficiency results of EPANET-PDX with reference to EPANET 2 are included as well