CC Sep-Oct 2023

INDUSTRYfocus
customer information into a connected
data environment to deliver cost-effective
operations and maintenance strategies in
real time, allowing engineering and
operations to collaborate more effectively.
With a cloud-based digital twin, real-time
simulations of network events - pipe
breaks, pump shutdowns, valve
operations, water flows, etc. - clarify their
impact on service levels. Supplemented
by the system's sensor data, boundary
conditions, billing, and hydraulic modelling
information, a digital twin continuously
monitors all infrastructure assets. In
addition, utilities can gain visibility into
present, historic, and forecasted analyses
of assets to uncover leaks in the network
before they turn into a problem.
In Washington DC a digital twin helped to
reduce operational and capital
expenditures and reduce nonrevenue
water loss. With the sheer size of DC
Water's network, the dynamic nature of
operational unknowns or physical
unknowns can have a cascading effect on
the delivery of reliable drinking water in a
safe and resilient fashion.
3. Conduct flood risk assessments to
mitigate effects from climate events on
urban drainage systems.
When flooding poses risks to residents,
property and infrastructure, hydraulic
simulations can increase the resilience of
urban drainage systems. Powerful tools
for flood modelling and hydraulic analysis
of overflowing stormwater systems help
you prepare for new challenges in water
retention. Comprehensive visualisations
facilitate more informed decisions,
assuring service levels and improving a
stormwater collection network.
Automated condition assessments use
machine learning to improve and tag
defect detection and accelerate
inspection work. Integration with digital
twins makes this a systematic process
that provides a federated source of
actionable insights, including sewer
condition assessment results. It puts
valuable analytics at the fingertips of
operations and maintenance to help them
proactively mitigate the impact on flows
based on forecasted weather patterns.
In problem areas where flows are not
effectively contained, digital tools help
engineers determine the extent of
overflows and root causes of the
problem. Paired with design algorithms
that engineers have trusted for decades
digital twins can help prioritise and fix
systems faced by increasing extreme
weather events.
In 2020, significant flooding along the
Yangtze River killed 141 people and
displaced 38 million more. For the city of
Jiujiang, the disaster was the latest in a
string of overflow and waterlogging
incidents caused by accelerated
urbanisation. To prepare for future flooding
events and minimise disruption to city life,
China Three Gorges Corporation directed
Shanghai Investigation, Design &
Research Institute (SIDRI) to create a
hydraulic analysis system to simulate a
variety of water conditions in the city.
This would need to display detailed data,
plan flood control tasks, and pinpoint
emergency events, with frequently
updated hydraulic data, shortening the
time to dispatch emergency services.
Predicting potential waterlogging helps
officials to identify and address critical
drainage problems in advance, which
overlain with real-time data allows the city
to respond rapidly to flooding.
4. Prepare for rapid response with dam
safety monitoring.
Dam failures can be catastrophic (as we
have witnessed in Libya). Dam owners
and inspectors must implement tools that
reduce such risks to people and the
environment. Unplanned rainfall wreaks
havoc with water resources, leaving
residents vulnerable to water supply
disruption or worse.
Dam safety programs supported by
state-of-the-art monitoring systems are
imperative to reduce risk imposed by
storms. A self-sustaining dam safety
monitoring system uses a network of
sensors to monitor conditions including
rainfall, pore pressure, deformation,
reservoir lake level, supported by other
metrics, such as groundwater, flow,
seepage, and slope stability during and
after construction, or even rainfall and
weather monitoring, to provide automated
site-specific insight into the performance of
the dam and the water distribution system.
In the case of Hurricane Ida, such data in
the affected area was used to establish
alerts on rapidly deteriorating conditions
that nearly reached overtopping that
triggered notifications autonomously sent
to key engineers and authorities. A dam
safety engineer on duty at the time alerted
affected counties to conduct evacuations
when multiple dam sites lost power.
5. Reduce carbon footprint and aim for
net zero.
One way to become carbon neutral by
2030 is to reduce energy consumption
and carbon emissions. Energy use at a
water or wastewater utility can be as much
as 50% of the organisation's total
electricity consumption, and second only
to labour costs.
Water utilities, surprisingly, are major
users of electricity. It's a controllable
operational expenditure. and a perfect
target for minimising your environmental
impact. Digitising the water supply
network and implementing smart, energyefficient
pumping operations can help to
achieve sustainability without impacting
service quality for customers. Hydraulic
models can be used to promote better
efficiencies in pumping systems, lower
fuel needs and reduce electricity usage.
You can automate on/off pump switches
using a digital model, calibrated and
simulated to accurately represent the
water supply operations in real time.
Evides supplies the Netherlands' city of
Rotterdam with clean and safe drinking
water. They coupled the hydraulic model
with an optimisation algorithm which,
using dynamic control scripting to test
and evaluate energy costs, activates the
on/off switch points of the pumping
stations for 110 million cubic meters of
pumped water. This saved 33% in energy
costs and reduced their carbon dioxide
footprint by 942 tons.
ADVANCING UTILITIES
Leading utilities are advancing their
digitisation to achieve sustainability and
resilience goals against climate change
and improve the efficiency, safety, and
quality of water supplies. Through new
methods and new technologies, you can
mitigate the consequences of climate
change on your city's water infrastructure.
www.bentley.com
September/October 2023 29