Abstract
Abstract. The difficulty in knowledge representation of a water distribution network (WDN) problem has contributed to the limited use of artificial intelligence (AI) based expert systems (ES) in the management of these networks. This paper presents a design of a Decision Support System (DSS) that facilitates "on-demand'' knowledge generation by utilizing results of simulation runs of a suitably calibrated and validated hydraulic model of an existing aged WDN corresponding to emergent or even hypothetical but likely scenarios. The DSS augments the capability of a conventional expert system by integrating together the hydraulic modelling features with heuristics based knowledge of experts under a common, rules based, expert shell named CLIPS (C Language Integrated Production System). In contrast to previous ES, the knowledge base of the DSS has been designed to be dynamic by superimposing CLIPS on Structured Query Language (SQL). The proposed ES has an inbuilt calibration module that enables calibration of an existing (aged) WDN for the unknown, and unobservable, Hazen-Williams C-values. In addition, the daily run and simulation modules of the proposed ES further enable the CLIPS inference engine to evaluate the network performance for any emergent or suggested test scenarios. An additional feature of the proposed design is that the DSS integrates computational platforms such as MATLAB, open source Geographical Information System (GIS), and a relational database management system (RDBMS) working under the umbrella of the Microsoft Visual Studio based common user interface. The paper also discusses implementation of the proposed framework on a case study and clearly demonstrates the utility of the application as an able aide for effective management of the study network.
Highlights
The day-to-day operation of a water distribution network is managed by skilled operators who use experience and other heuristics to adjust and control network elements such as pumps and valves in their desire to achieve satisfactory performance of the water supply system
The network managers usually have to depend upon scant information that is reported by consumers impacted by these exigencies (Machell et al, 2010)
Managers of water utilities design most of their interventions and other decisions based on intuition, rule of thumb heuristics and trial and error
Summary
The day-to-day operation of a water distribution network is managed by skilled operators who use experience and other heuristics to adjust and control network elements such as pumps and valves in their desire to achieve satisfactory performance of the water supply system. In the field of water management, some important applications of expert systems include EXPLORE (Leon et al, 2000), OASIS (Goforth and Floris, 1991), CRITQUING Expert System (Shepherd and Ortolano, 1996), IITWSEXP (Khosa et al, 1995), Expert System for treated water distribution (Bunn and Helms, 1999), Network Management System For Water Distribution System (Raghvendran et al, 2007), and Intelligent Control System For a Municipal Water Distribution Network (Chan et al, 1999) Most of these initiatives included components to transfer knowledge from the heuristic domain to the knowledge base of the expert system, while some of the other developments have applied fuzzy logic to process information and suggest “best practice” guidelines for the network manager. The DSS, has been designed to have SQL as RDBMS
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