Scientific Results

This catalogue is obtained by conducting a systematic literature review of scientific studies and reviews related to monitoring, forecasting, and simulating the inland water cycle. The analysis maps scientific expertise across research groups and classifies findings by the type of inland water studied, application focus, and geographical scope. A gap analysis will identify missing research areas and assess their relevance to policymaking.

ID ā–² Type Year Authors Title Venue/Journal DOI Research type Water System Technical Focus Abstract Link with Projects Link with Tools Related policies ID
publications-3721 article 2021 Ī“Āvila, Carlos AndrĪ“Ā©s MacĪ“Ā­as and Ī“Āvila, Carlos AndrĪ“Ā©s MacĪ“Ā­as and SĪ“Ī…nchez-Romero, Francisco-Javier and SĪ“Ī…nchez-Romero, Francisco-Javier and SĪ“Ī…nchez-Romero, Francisco-Javier and JimĪ“Ā©nez, Petra Amparo LĪ“Ā³pez and LĪ“Ā³pez-JimĪ“Ā©nez, P. Amparo and SĪ“Ī…nchez, Modesto PĪ“Ā©rez and SĪ“Ī…nchez, Modesto PĪ“Ā©rez and PĪ“Ā©rez-SĪ“Ī…nchez, Modesto Leakage Management and Pipe System Efficiency. Its Influence in the Improvement of the Efficiency Indexes Water 10.3390/w13141909 Water is one of the most valuable resources for humans. Worldwide, leakage levels in water distribution systems oscillate between 10\% and 55\%. This causes the need for constant repairs, economic losses, and risk to the health of users due to possible pathogenic intrusion. There are different methods for estimating the level of leakage in a network, depending on parameters such as service pressure, orifice size, age and pipe material. Sixty-two water distribution networks were analyzed to determine the leakage method used, the calibration method, and the percentage of existing leaks. Different efficiency indicators were proposed and evaluated using this database. Several cases of installation of pumps working as turbines (PATs) in water distribution networks were analyzed in which the use of these recovery systems caused a pressure drop, reducing the level of leaks and recovering energy.
publications-3722 article 2021 CarriĪ“Ā§o, Nelson and CarriĪ“Ā§o, Nelson and Ferreira, Bruno and Ferreira, Bruno Data and Information Systems Management for the Urban Water Infrastructure Condition Assessment 10.3389/frwa.2021.670550 Most of urban water infrastructure around the world were built several decades ago and nowadays they are deteriorated. So, the assets that constitute these infrastructures need to be rehabilitated. Since most of the assets are buried the water utilities face the challenge to decide how, where and when to rehabilitate. Therefore, condition assessment is vital to plan rehabilitation actions and is mostly based on the data collected from the networks. This collected data need to be put together in order to be transformed into useful information. Nonetheless, the large amount of assets and data involved makes data and information management a challenging task for water utilities. This paper highlights the importance of data and information systemsĪ²ā‚¬ā„¢ management for urban water infrastructure condition assessment.
publications-3723 article 2021 Bakchan, Amal and Bakchan, Amal and Roy, Arkajyoti and Roy, Arkajyoti and Faust, Kasey M. and Faust, Kasey M. Impacts of COVID-19 social distancing policies on water demand: A population dynamics perspective Journal of Environmental Management 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113949 Abstract Social distancing policies (SDPs) implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic have led to temporal and spatial shifts in water demand across cities. Water utilities need to understand these demand shifts to respond to potential operational and water-quality issues. Aided by a fixed-effects model of citywide water demand in Austin, Texas, we explore the impacts of various SDPs (e.g., time after the stay home-work safe order, reopening phases) using daily demand data gathered between 2013 and 2020. Our approach uses socio-technical determinants (e.g., climate, water conservation policy) with SDPs to model water demand, while accounting for spatial and temporal effects (e.g., geographic variations, weekday patterns). Results indicate shifts in behavior of residential and nonresidential demands that offset the change at the system scale, demonstrating a spatial redistribution of water demand after the stay home-work safe order. Our results show that some phases of Texas's reopening phases had statistically significant relationships to water demand. While this yielded only marginal net effects on overall demand, it underscores behavioral changes in demand at sub-system spatial scales. Our discussions shed light on SDPs' impacts on water demand. Equipped with our empirical findings, utilities can respond to potential vulnerabilities in their systems, such as water-quality problems that may be related to changes in water pressure in response to demand variations.
publications-3724 article 2022 Perno, Matteo and Perno, Matteo and Hvam, Lars and Hvam, Lars and Haug, Anders and Haug, Anders Implementation of digital twins in the process industry: A systematic literature review of enablers and barriers Computers in Industry 10.1016/j.compind.2021.103558 Abstract Since the introduction of the concept of Ī²ā‚¬_x009c_digital twinsĪ²ā‚¬_x009d_ (DTs) in 2002, the number of practical applications in different industrial sectors has grown rapidly. Despite the hype surrounding this technology, companies face significant challenges upon deciding to implement DTs in their organizations due to the novelty of the concept. Furthermore, little research on DT has been conducted for the process industry, which may be explained by the high complexity of accurately representing and modeling the physics behind production processes. To consolidate the fragmented literature on the enabling factors and challenges in DT implementation in the process industry, this study organizes the existing studies on DTs with a focus on barriers and enablers. On this basis, this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge on DTs by organizing the DT literature and by proposing conceptual models describing enablers of and barriers to DT implementation, as well as their mutual relationships.
publications-3725 article 2022 Morani, Maria Cristina and Morani, Maria Cristina and SimĪ“Ā£o, Mariana and SimĪ“Ā£o, Mariana and Gazur, Ignac and Gazur, Ignac and Santos, Rui S. and Santos, Rui Silva and Carravetta, Armando and Carravetta, Armando and Fecarotta, Oreste and Fecarotta, Oreste and Ramos, Helena M. and Ramos, Helena M. Pressure Drop and Energy Recovery with a New Centrifugal Micro-Turbine: Fundamentals and Application in a Real WDN Energies 10.3390/en15041528 Water distribution networks need to improve system efficiency. Hydropower is a clean and renewable energy that has been among the key solutions to environmental issues for many decades. As the turbine is the core of hydropower plants, high attention is paid to creating new design solutions and increasing the performance of turbines in order to enhance energy efficiency of leakage by pressure control. Hence, design and performance analysis of a new turbine is a crucial aspect for addressing the efficiency of its application. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling is coupled with experimental tests in order to investigate the optimal performance of a new centrifugal turbine. The behavior of the flow through the turbine runner is assessed by means of velocity profiles and pressure contours at all components of the machine under different operating conditions. Finally, the turbine geometry is scaled to a real water distribution network and an optimization procedure is performed with the aim of investigating the optimal location of both the designed new centrifugal micro-turbines (CMT) and pressure reducing valves (PRV) in order to control the excess of pressure and produce energy at the same time.
publications-3726 article 2022 Berglund, Emily Zechman and Berglund, Emily Zechman and Buchberger, Steven G. and Buchberger, Steven G. and da ConceiĪ“Ā§Ī“Ā£o Cunha, Maria and Cunha, Maria and Faust, Kasey M. and Faust, Kasey M. and Giacomoni, Marcio and Giacomoni, Marcio and Goharian, Erfan and Goharian, Erfan and Kleiner, Yehuda and Kleiner, Yehuda and Lee, Juneseok and Lee, Juneseok and Ostfeld, Avi and Ostfeld, Avi and Pasha, Fayzul and Pasha, Fayzul and Pesantez, Jorge E. and Pesantez, Jorge E. and Saldarriaga, Juan and Saldarriaga, Juan and Shafiee, Ehsan and Shafiee, Ehsan and Spearing, Lauryn A. and Spearing, Lauryn A. and van Zyl, J. E. and van Zyl, Jakobus E. and Yang, Yi-Chen E. and Yang, Ethan and Yang, Y.C. Ethan Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Water Utility Operations and Vulnerability Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management 10.1061/(asce)wr.1943-5452.0001560 The COVID-19 pandemic affected the operation of water utilities across the world. In the context of utilities, new protocols were needed to ensure that employees can work safely, and that water service is not interrupted. This study reports on how the operations of 27 water utilities worldwide were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviews were conducted between June and October 2020; respondents represent utilities that varied in population size, location, and customer composition (e.g., residential, industrial, commercial, institutional, and university customers). Survey questions focused on the effects of the pandemic on water system operation, demand, revenues, system vulnerabilities, and the use and development of emergency response plans (ERPs). Responses indicate that significant changes in water system operations were implemented to ensure that water utility employees could continue working while maintaining safe social distancing or alternatively working from home. A total of 23 of 27 utilities reported small changes in demand volumes and patterns, which can lead to some changes in water infrastructure operations and water quality. Utilities experienced a range of impacts on finances, where most utilities discussed small decreases in revenues, with a few reporting more drastic impacts. The pandemic revealed new system vulnerabilities, including supply chain management, capacity of staff to perform certain functions remotely, and finances. Some utilities applied existing guidance developed through ERPs with slight modifications, other utilities developed new ERPs to specifically address unique conditions induced by the pandemic, and a few utilities did not use or reference their existing ERPs to change operations. Many utilities suggested that lessons learned would be used in future ERPs, such as personnel training on pandemic risk management or annual mock exercises for preparing employees to better respond to emergencies.
publications-3727 article 2022 Cooper, James P. and Cooper, James P. and Jackson, Stephen and Jackson, Stephen and Kamojjala, Sri and Kamojjala, Sri and Owens, Garrett and Owens, Garrett and Szana, Kedric and Szana, Kedric and TomiĪ”ā€”, SaĪ•Ī…a and Tomic, SaĪ•Ī…a Demystifying Digital Twins: Definitions, Applications, and Benefits Journal American Water Works Association 10.1002/awwa.1922 Key Takeaways For utilities, digital twins are the next step in their digital transformation. Digital twins have various functional purposes and levels of maturity. Digital twins can be used to transfer knowledge from a retiring workforce, support increased customer trust and satisfaction, and optimize operations.
publications-3728 article 2002 Bonabeau, Eric and Bonabeau, Eric Agent-based modeling: Methods and techniques for simulating human systems Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 10.1073/pnas.082080899 Agent-based modeling is a powerful simulation modeling technique that has seen a number of applications in the last few years, including applications to real-world business problems. After the basic principles of agent-based simulation are briefly introduced, its four areas of application are discussed by using real-world applications: flow simulation, organizational simulation, market simulation, and diffusion simulation. For each category, one or several business applications are described and analyzed.
publications-3729 article 2016 Shafiee, M. Ehsan and Shafiee, M. Ehsan and Berglund, Emily Zechman and Berglund, Emily Zechman Agent-based modeling and evolutionary computation for disseminating public advisories about hazardous material emergencies Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2016.01.001
publications-3730 article 2018 Monroe, Jacob G. and Monroe, Jacob G. and Ramsey, Elizabeth and Ramsey, Elizabeth and Berglund, Emily Zechman and Berglund, Emily Zechman Allocating countermeasures to defend water distribution systems against terrorist attack Reliability Engineering & System Safety 10.1016/j.ress.2018.02.014