Third party funded individual grant
Acronym: OptiHyd
Start date : 01.11.2023
End date : 31.10.2026
In recent decades, the water cycle has been greatly challenged by climate change and the associated weather fluctuations. For example, changes in weather lead to previously unknown behaviors in water supply, increase the severity of seasonal and regional water scarcity, and reduce the safety and quality of drinking water supply. Since 2018, the effects of extreme events such as droughts and heavy rainfall have also been observed in Bavaria. The increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events have particularly significant impacts on the daily operations of Bavarian water supply companies, as well as on supply security, quality, and drinking water hygiene for citizens. Therefore, the need for deeper knowledge about existing water supply structures is growing with the current challenge posed by the significantly altered environmental influences. Digitalization in water management and the need to economically and socially cope with the challenges of climate change are becoming increasingly important.
To mitigate the impacts of climate change, a resilient water supply must be developed and implemented on a large scale. According to the International Water Association (IWA), 'Resilience in water use is more than the implementation of a single technical solution.' It is an approach that is part of a coherent and holistic strategy to ensure sustainable management of water resources and safe water supply. Therefore, close collaboration between water suppliers, civil engineers, sensor manufacturers, and data scientists is key to developing and implementing novel and applicable water use strategies. The collaboration should lead to benefits for end-users and contribute to the regional, national, and global mission of combating climate change.
The essence of this project is to develop, demonstrate, and evaluate a water supply strategy based on a comprehensive holistic model of a water distribution network (WDN), specifically the Schrobenhausen water network. At its core is the research and development of a hybrid thermo-hydraulic model of the water network, where water and soil temperature are additionally modeled. The applicability and practicality of the model will be demonstrated through various applications, including monitoring and predicting water quality, detecting and locating leaks, and predictive failure detection. Heterogeneous data sources used in the daily operation of WDNs, which include facility management data, data from smart meters, operational and control data (SCADA), and additional temperature measurements (i.e., water and soil temperatures), will be collected and used.
Die Ziele
für nachhaltige Entwicklung der Vereinten Nationen haben die Steigerung der
Lebensqualität und den Zugang zu sauberem Trinkwasser zu einer politischen
Priorität gemacht. Allerdings wurde der Wasserkreislauf in den letzten
Jahrzehnten auch in Bayern stark vom Klimawandel beeinflusst. Zwei wichtige
Aspekte der täglichen Trinkwasserversorgung und -verteilung sind die Sicherung
der Wasserqualität und die Steigerung der Nutzungseffizienz. Um die
Widerstandsfähigkeit und Belastbarkeit der Wasserversorgung im Allgemeinen zu
erhöhen, sind numerische Simulation, Datenintegration und künstliche
Intelligenz (KI) notwendig. In diesem Projekt zielen wir auf die Entwicklung
eines KI-verfeinerten temperaturhydraulischen Modells unter Verwendung
heterogener Datenquellen eines bayerischen Wasserversorgungsnetzes ab. Hybride
KI-Methoden werden eingesetzt, um den komplexen Zusammenhang zwischen Wasser-
und Bodentemperatur zu modellieren. Das resultierende Modell wird als Grundlage
für verschiedene reale Anwendungen wie Ortung der Leckage, Erkennung von
Anomalien sowie der Überwachung der Trinkwasserqualität dienen, mit dem übergeordneten
Ziel, die Effizienz und Qualität der Wasserversorgung zu steigern und
gleichzeitig zur Eindämmung der Auswirkung des Klimawandels auf die
Trinkwasserversorgung beizutragen.