Research Interests: Engineering, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Structural Engineering, Genetic Programming, and 14 moreSoft Computing, Compressive Strength, Building Codes, Reinforced concrete, Regression Model, Stirrup, Polynomial Regression, Physical Model, Yield Strength, Experimental Data, Theoretical Model, Reinforced Concrete Beam, RC Beam, and cross sectional area
A reliable water distribution network (WDN) can provide an adequate supply service to customers under both normal and abnormal working conditions. The WDN reliability analysis, therefore, is a keystone to improve the supply service... more
A reliable water distribution network (WDN) can provide an adequate supply service to customers under both normal and abnormal working conditions. The WDN reliability analysis, therefore, is a keystone to improve the supply service efficiency. Strategies for reliability analysis are usually proved on small WDNs, which do not compare with large real complex systems in terms of number of water tanks, pressure reduction valves, variable speed pumps, controlled devices and possible alternative water supply schemes. The topological changes due to pipeline interruptions impact on emptying–filling of water tanks and network pressure status. This work proposes a two-level procedure for mechanical reliability assessment, suited for large real WDNs. It leverages a path/connectivity-based approach to set up reliability indicators for global-level analysis and local screening of the most critical scenarios. The employed advanced hydraulic model includes the automatic detection of topological ch...
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Water losses in urban water distribution networks (WDN) accelerate the deterioration of such infrastructures. The enhanced hydraulic modelling provides a phenomenological representation of WDN hydraulics, including the modelling of... more
Water losses in urban water distribution networks (WDN) accelerate the deterioration of such infrastructures. The enhanced hydraulic modelling provides a phenomenological representation of WDN hydraulics, including the modelling of leakages as function of pipe average pressure and deterioration. The methodological use of such models on real WDN was demonstrated to support the planning of leakage management actions. Nonetheless, many water utilities are still in the process of designing flow/pressure monitoring, thus data available are not enough to perform detailed calibration of such models.This work presents a physically based approach for the calibration of WDN hydraulic models aimed at supporting leakage management plans since early stages. The proposed procedure leverages the key role of mass balance in enhanced hydraulic models and the technical insight on pipe deterioration mechanisms for various quantity and quality of available data. Two calibration studies of real WDNs dem...
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The sewer system is a service that is expected to function without interruptions. Continuous assessment, maintenance and rehabilitation are the key to maintaining a required level of service at an acceptable cost. An appropriate and cost... more
The sewer system is a service that is expected to function without interruptions. Continuous assessment, maintenance and rehabilitation are the key to maintaining a required level of service at an acceptable cost. An appropriate and cost effective prioritisation scheme for periodical surveys could be built based on failure data collected by sewerage companies over time. Such a scheme could be achieved using data-driven modelling techniques jointly with engineering knowledge of the failure mechanisms. This paper presents a descriptive analysis performed on a real database containing collapse and blockage incident records for a large sewer system in the UK. Starting from a statistical study of both failure types, the most important variables are identified and a classification scheme is suggested. Then, using a hybrid modelling technique, evolutionary polynomial regression, two different formulas for blockage events and collapse failures are obtained and their engineering interpretati...
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ABSTRACT The hydraulic system functioning is determined by the boundary conditions (e.g.,network topology, pipe resistances/diameters, tank levels, status of control devices, and status of pumps). Shutdown of isolation valves to detach a... more
ABSTRACT The hydraulic system functioning is determined by the boundary conditions (e.g.,network topology, pipe resistances/diameters, tank levels, status of control devices, and status of pumps). Shutdown of isolation valves to detach a portion of the hydraulic network for planned or unplanned works generates abnormal working conditions because of the induced topological modification of the network, which may reduce the hydraulic capacity of the water system with respect to the portions still connected. Thus, a challenge for network design is to optimize diameters versus system management under abnormal working conditions, i.e.,accounting for the isolation valve system. To this purpose, a methodology for optimal system design accounting for valve shutdowns is herein presented. Because the optimization asks for the evaluation of network configurations that can be generated by the isolation valve system, a strategy to reduce the computational burden is required. In fact, the analysis of a large number of network configurations could be required in real-world applications. A strategy to evaluate only the critical configurations, i.e.,those for which the hydraulic capacity becomes insufficient to satisfy water requests in the still connected network, and dominating configurations, i.e.,those that are the most critical, is presented. The optimization procedure is explained and discussed using a small sized network, and the computational efficiency is demonstrated using a large sized network.
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Research Interests: Engineering, Civil Engineering, Water quality, System Management, Distributed System, and 12 morePerformance indicators, Failure Analysis, Hydroinformatics, Case Study, Network Performance, Historical Data, Water Quality, Polynomial Regression, Performance Indicator, Support System, Electron Paramagnetic Resonance, and Water Distribution System
The Colebrook–White formulation of the friction factor is implicit and requires some iterations to be solved given a correct initial search value and a target accuracy. Some new explicit formulations to efficiently calculate the... more
The Colebrook–White formulation of the friction factor is implicit and requires some iterations to be solved given a correct initial search value and a target accuracy. Some new explicit formulations to efficiently calculate the Colebrook–White friction factor are presented herein. The aim of this investigation is twofold: (i) to preserve the accuracy of estimates while (ii) reducing the computational burden (i.e. speed). On the one hand, the computational effectiveness is important when the intensive calculation of the friction factor (e.g. large-size water distribution networks (WDN) in optimization problems, flooding software, etc.) is required together with its derivative. On the other hand, the accuracy of the developing formula should be realistically chosen considering the remaining uncertainties surrounding the model where the friction factor is used. In the following, three strategies for friction factor mapping are proposed which were achieved by using the Evolutionary Pol...
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Sedimentation is the most common and effectively practiced method of urban drainage control in terms of operating installations and duration of service. Assessing the percentage of suspended solids removed after a given detention time is... more
Sedimentation is the most common and effectively practiced method of urban drainage control in terms of operating installations and duration of service. Assessing the percentage of suspended solids removed after a given detention time is essential for both design and management purposes. In previous experimental studies by some of the authors, the expression of iso-removal curves (i.e. representing the water depth where a given percentage of suspended solids is removed after a given detention time in a sedimentation column) has been demonstrated to depend on two parameters which describe particle settling velocity and flocculation factor. This study proposes an investigation of the influence of some hydrological and pollutant aggregate information of the sampled events on both parameters. The Multi-Objective (EPR-MOGA) and Multi-Case Strategy (MCS-EPR) variants of the Evolutionary Polynomial Regression (EPR) are originally used as data-mining strategies. Results are proved to be con...
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ABSTRACT The simulation of flood events is essential for risk prevention and land regulation purposes. Traditionally, it is performed by decoupling the prediction of hydrograph(s) at some section(s) of the waterway(s) from the delineation... more
ABSTRACT The simulation of flood events is essential for risk prevention and land regulation purposes. Traditionally, it is performed by decoupling the prediction of hydrograph(s) at some section(s) of the waterway(s) from the delineation of downstream flooded areas by using synthetic hydrologic models and hydraulic inundation models, respectively. In the case of the Apulian ephemeral streams (Southern Italy), the application of such an approach is prevented by the lack of monitored rainfall–runoff data and the discrepancy of some key underlying hypotheses. Thus, the suitability of integrated (hydrologic–hydraulic) full-2D models is investigated here by assuming the rainfall as the only external forcing term into each element of the bi-dimensional domain, where the shallow water equations are integrated. This permits the reproduction of runoff generation, propagation and, eventually, flooding at any point of the catchment. Several model runs under many combinations of hydrological losses and surface roughness parameters demonstrate that the full-2D approach realistically reproduce catchment hydraulic behaviour and predicted inundated areas of Apulian ephemeral streams, thus being of direct relevance for basin management purposes.
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The artificial gallery Pantano-Mondragone, is certainly the most important cavity, at least by extension, in the context of the so-called "architecture in the darkness" underground the city of Ruvo di Puglia which is known to... more
The artificial gallery Pantano-Mondragone, is certainly the most important cavity, at least by extension, in the context of the so-called "architecture in the darkness" underground the city of Ruvo di Puglia which is known to have passages and tunnels excavated (presumably) in order to connect the old town with churches and monasteries built outside the old city walls. The history of the gallery is also the most recent and documented. Some people (over ninety years old today) who used to play into the Pantano pond still remember the excavation works. Moreover a number of original official documents have been found at the Town Engineering Department (UTC) in Ruvo di Puglia and at the Public Record Office in Bari. Since 1988 the Caving club of Ruvo (GSR) is carrying on some studies on the current conditions of this cavity. All data and information collected in a recent inspection of the gallery and the surroundings are available for both the Apulian Basin Authority and for t...