Applications of Advanced Process Control Techniques to an Italian Water Distribution Network

In this article, an application of advanced process control techniques to an Italian water distribution network is presented. Several in-depth hydraulic studies had previously been conducted in order to perform hardware modifications through sectorization procedures. In order to further improve performance, both pressure management of the water distribution system and optimization of pump scheduling problems have been addressed. Net pressure has been minimized through two-layer model predictive control techniques, while advanced logics have been designed for the pumps' scheduling. The developed advanced process control system has been successfully installed, allowing to reduce water losses and achieve a significant reduction of operational costs in terms of electric energy and fault rates.

I. Introduction

Water distribution networks (WDNs) are complex systems generally composed of a large number of interconnected elements such as reservoirs, pipes, pumps, valves, and other hydraulic elements. The presence of different conflicting objectives, e.g., fulfilling customers’ water demand versus the minimization of energy consumption and water losses/leakages, represents an interesting challenge in the management of WDNs. The development of advanced process control (APC) systems applied to WDNs is clearly within the scope of smart cities, a concept that has become more and more popular in scientific literature and international policies [1]. In [2], a smart city is defined as a city that by monitoring and integrating the conditions of all of its critical infrastructures, including roads, airports, seaports, water, energy power, can better optimize its resources, plan its preventive maintenance activities, and monitor security aspects maximizing also services to its citizens.