Design of urban water infrastructure
Managing Uncertainty in the Design of Urban Water
Infrastructure
When engineers plan and design storm sewers, water reservoirs,
treatment reactors they are, in a fundamental way, confronted with a wide
spectrum of uncertain factors. These can include forecasting uncertainties (e.g.
population to be served in 30 years), modeling uncertainties (e.g. parameter
uncertainty in an activated sludge model), measurement errors (e.g. flow and
concentration measurements at the inflow to a wastewater treatment plant), etc.
The focus of this PhD project is set on the following modeling aspects during the design stage of urban water infrastructure (probabilistic design):
• Uncertainty Classification
• Uncertainty Propagation
•
Uncertainty Management
The feasibility of explicit consideration of uncertainties in the design phase is explored and compared with traditional design concepts that usually treat uncertainty in an implicit way.
Case studies may include Combined Sewer Overflow Detention, Water
and Wastewater Treatment and Storm Sewer Design.