PhD Defence Mario Castro Gama
On Tuesday 19 November 2024, the PhD Defence and Awarding Ceremony of Mr. Mario Castro Gama from Colombia, will take place. His promotor is Professor Dimitri Solomatine and his co-promotor Dr. Andreja Jonoski.
The title of his thesis is: Multi-Objective Optimization of Energy Efficiency and Pressure Management in Large Water Distribution Networks.
Research Summary:
Utilities worldwide are continuously improving operations to meet changing demands, incorporate new technologies, and manage aging infrastructure. To better handle these changes, digitalization and decision support systems are increasingly adopted.
This research explores optimizing energy use and pressure management in WDNs through pump scheduling and network sectorization using open software (hydraulics and heuristic algorithms), supported by High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources.
The research, part of the EU's HP7 ICeWater project (2012-2015), was applied to the water supply system of Milan, Italy, operated by Metropolitana Milanese S.p.A. The Abbiategrasso Pressure Management Zone (PMZ) was with Pump Scheduling research focus and the entire Milan WDN was used for research on sectorization. Pump scheduling was optimized using two algorithms (NSGA-II and AMGA2), considering different objectives like total energy and resilience. Sectorization involved a two-level optimization algorithm to manage pressure and energy by dividing the network into sectors.
The findings underscore the importance of advanced modelling tools and optimization algorithms for utilities to improve WDN operations and decision-making. Field testing demonstrated that significant energy savings can be achieved, particularly with the adoption of Variable Speed Pumps (VSPs). The results demonstrated up to 16% energy savings and enhanced operational cost efficiency.
Livestream
Below you can find the schedule:
09.30 – 09.45 Presentation
10.00 – 11.30 Public defence & Awarding ceremony
Watch the livestream of the ceremony here.
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