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master-thesis-marta-ferra-mege-fv.pdf
https://upcommons.upc.edu/bitstream/handle/2117/344703/master-thesis-marta-ferra-
2. https://upcommons.upc.edu/discover?
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Transient control in drinking water systems

Abstract
Service pressure control plays a fundamental role in the framework of water distribution network
management, allowing for resource-efficient operation, background leakages reduction and pipe
bursts incidence abatement. Surprisingly, however, most water utilities rely on steadystate
models for design, supervision and control neglecting the detrimental effects hydraulic transients
may have on the system infrastructure. Driven by the industrial case study of the water company
Aigües de Barcelona to remedy to the generation of sustained pressure oscillations as a
consequence of the operation of the automatic control system, this thesis presents a modelling
methodology for transient events based on a finite-difference approximation of the continuity
and momentum equations that govern transient flow in pressurised closed conduits. This
approach, extended to permit the computation of the pressure losses due to friction accordingly
to the Hazen-Williams formula and to account for the presence of branching junctions, of partial
pipeline blockages and of dynamically coupled pressure reducing valves, is then applied to
model the dynamic behaviour of a section of the water distribution network of the metropolitan
city of Barcelona. Furthermore, this thesis proposes a decentralized control scheme constituted
by an optimal proportional-integrative controller with anti-windup and a series of model
predictive controllers with look-ahead to ensure tracking of the service pressure reference at the
entrance of the different district metered areas regardless of the water demand fluctuations.
Eventually, the effectiveness of this solution is validated by means of numerical simulations
Challenge will not break my journey
It will make/strengthen/ me. And I see it as opportunities
I will apply what I have learned in my life