Modelling large urban drainage systems in real time

Abstract

The interactions between rainfall and urban drainage systems (UDSs) are complex and must be considered as a whole in order to maximise control efficiency whilst at the same time achieving environmentally acceptable solutions. More rigorous standards, as a result of recent EU and UK legislation, are increasingly encouraging intervention in system management rather than more traditional passive procedures. To achieve these goals a global predictive real-time control (RTC) strategy is required, in which real-time flow prediction plays an important part in the provision of necessary first-hand information on system status in both current and predictive modes. This paper describes one such strategy, which differs from existing methods in the following ways: the novel way in which the UDS is represented; the algorithm used for model parameter identification; the strategies associated with the system output prediction; and the transfer function model used to represent the system. This transfer function model is a conceptually parameterised transfer function (CPTF) model, which by its nature falls into the category of lumped, dynamic, linear and conceptual although its structure takes the form of a non-conceptual transfer function model. The modelling approach is described as the RHINOS (Real-time urban Hydrological INfrastructure and Output modelling Strategy).