Special Issue "Optimal Design, Operation, and Management for Sustainable Water Distribution Systems"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Do Guen Yoo
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Suwon, Gyeonggi-do 18323, Korea
Interests: resilience-based design and management of water distribution networks; optimization; meta-heuristics algorithms; advanced metering infrastructures; smart water techniques
Prof. Dr. Seungyub Lee
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hannam University, Daejeon 34430, Korea
Interests: urban water infrastructure; water distribution system analysis; sustainability; resilience; aging infrastructure; optimization; asset management
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The water distribution system is one of the most critical infrastructures in sustaining our communities as it ensures the necessary supplies for daily water usage. However, the water distribution system has been undergoing various problems including but not limited to climate change, population growth, resource depletion, aging infrastructure, pipe breakage, and leakage. All these problems jeopardizing the performance of the water distribution system. Hence, it is important to seek a way to secure (or sustain) the performance of a water distribution system.

There is a general agreement of the definition of sustainability of the water distribution system, but it is often difficult to clearly reflect it in the planning and management phase. Over recent decades, several studies have referred to the sustainability of water distribution systems and solved emerging issues of the water distribution system in the limited perspective of sustainability (e.g., cost-effectiveness, environmental impacts, reliability, resilience, etc.). As the sustainability of the water distribution system is the sustainability of our communities, it is now important to rethink the sustainability and sustainable development of the water distribution system.

The goal of the Special Issue is to focus on emerging topics of sustainable development of the water distribution systems by its sustainable design, operation, and management. The main priorities of the research are as follows:

  • Defining sustainability of WDS
  • Identification of relationship among sustainability components
  • Innovative strategies for sustainable development of WDS
  • Strategies for securing sustainability of WDS under a mega-disaster
  • Application of optimization algorithms and artificial intelligence-based techniques to predict long-term performance of WDS
  • Comprehensive sustainability analysis of WDS
  • Solving WDS aging issues
  • Long term adaptive operation considering climate change and population growth
  • System dynamics modelling of WDS
  • Carbon neutral techniques of WDS

Combining advanced technology for sustainable operation of WDS

Prof. Dr. Do Guen Yoo
Prof. Dr. Seungyub Lee
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Water distribution system analysis
  • sustainable development
  • planning and management
  • optimization
  • artificial intelligence
  • drinking water infrastructure
  • asset management
  • disaster management
  • carbon neutral

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Development of Leakage Detection Model and Its Application for Water Distribution Networks Using RNN-LSTM
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9262; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169262 - 18 Aug 2021
Viewed by 222
Abstract
With the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution, advanced measurement infrastructure and utilization technologies are being noticeably introduced into the water supply system to store and utilize measurement data. From this perspective, the leak detection technology in water supply networks is becoming increasingly [...] Read more.
With the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution, advanced measurement infrastructure and utilization technologies are being noticeably introduced into the water supply system to store and utilize measurement data. From this perspective, the leak detection technology in water supply networks is becoming increasingly vital to sustainable water resource management and the clean water supply worldwide. In particular, leakage detection of buried pipelines is rated as a very challenging research topic given the current level of technology. However, leakage in buried underground pipelines is rated as a very challenging research topic given the current level of technology. Therefore, a data-driven leak detection model was developed through this study using deep learning technology based on inflow meter data. Multiple threshold-based models were applied to reduce the RNN-LSTM (Recurrent Neural Networks–Long Short-Term Memory models) deep learning and false prediction range, which is programmed in conjunction with the Python language and Google Colaboratory (a big data analysis tool). The developed model consists of flow pattern shape extraction, RNN-LSTM-based flow prediction, and threshold setting modules. The developed model was applied to the actual leakage accident data, followed by the performance evaluation. As a result, the leak was recognized at most points immediately after the accident. The performance of leak detection was evaluated by a Confusion matrix and showed more than 90% accuracy at all points except singularities. Therefore, the developed model can be used as a critical software technology to proactively identify various at present with smart water infrastructure being introduced. In addition, this model is highly scalable as it can consider various operational situations based on the expert system, and it can also efficiently reflect the results of pipe network analysis across different scenarios. Full article
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Article
Multiple Leak Detection in Water Distribution Networks Following Seismic Damage
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8306; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158306 - 26 Jul 2021
Viewed by 373
Abstract
Water pipe leaks due to seismic damage are more difficult to detect than bursts, and such leaks, if not repaired in a timely manner, can eventually reduce supply pressure and generate both pollutant penetration risks and economic losses. Therefore, leaks must be promptly [...] Read more.
Water pipe leaks due to seismic damage are more difficult to detect than bursts, and such leaks, if not repaired in a timely manner, can eventually reduce supply pressure and generate both pollutant penetration risks and economic losses. Therefore, leaks must be promptly identified, and damaged pipes must be replaced or repaired. Leak-detection using equipment in the field is accurate; however, it is a considerably labor-intensive process that necessitates expensive equipment. Therefore, indirect leak detection methods applicable before fieldwork are necessary. In this study, a computer-based, multiple-leak-detection model is developed. The proposed technique uses observational data, such as the pressure and flow rate, in conjunction with an optimization method and hydraulic analysis simulations, to improve detection efficiency (DE) for multiple leaks in the field. A novel approach is proposed, i.e., use of a cascade and iteration search algorithms to effectively detect multiple leaks (with the unknown locations, quantities, and sizes encountered in real-world situations) due to large-scale disasters, such as earthquakes. This method is verified through application to small block-scale water distribution networks (WDNs), and the DE is analyzed. The proposed detection model can be used for efficient leak detection and the repair of WDNs following earthquakes. Full article
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