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Real-Time Response to Contamination Emergencies of Urban Water Networks

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Abstract

In order to develop an emergency response plan for contaminant flushing in drinking water networks in intentional or accidental contamination, a decision tree-based model is suggested for real-time application. The approach is based on searching for the best layout of flushing nodes and searching for a set of simple rules that can be readily used in real-time situations for determining the optimal duration of hydrant flushing. The methodology consists of a hydraulic simulation model (EPANET), a fast robust multi-objective optimizer (NSGA-II), a Monte-Carlo simulation for including the inherent high uncertainty in deliberate contamination and a well-known multi-criteria decision-making technique, namely TOPSIS. In order to overcome bottleneck of time-consuming optimization and represent simple rules for contaminant flushing of drinking water network, the M5P model tree was utilized. To evaluate the applicability and accuracy of the proposed methodology in supporting decision makers in making effective real-time decisions, it was applied to a real water distribution system. The developed decision tree is shown to be an effective tool for real-time application.

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Acknowledgements

This investigation was supported by a grant from the Research Council of the East Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. This financial support is gratefully acknowledged. The author is also most grateful to Mr. Faraz Modiri and Mrs. Samira Namvar for their contribution in simulating the water distribution network of Lamerd City and to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, East Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Bazargan-Lari

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  1. Mohammad Reza Bazargan-Lari
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Correspondence to Mohammad Reza Bazargan-Lari.

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Bazargan-Lari, M.R. Real-Time Response to Contamination Emergencies of Urban Water Networks. Iran J Sci Technol Trans Civ Eng 42, 73–83 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-017-0071-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40996-017-0071-2

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