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Application of a support system to the design of wastewater treatment plants

This paper presents a case study that explores the advantages that can be derived from the use of a design support system during the design of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). With this objective in mind a simplified but plausible WWTP design case study has been generated with KBDS, a computer-based support system that maintains a historical record of the design process. The study shows how, by employing such a historical record, it is possible to: (1) rank different design proposals responding to a design problem; (2) study the influence of changing the weight of the arguments used in the selection of the most adequate proposal; (3) take advantage of keywords to assist the designer in the search of specific items within the historical records; (4) evaluate automatically the compliance of alternative design proposals with respect to the design objectives; (5) verify the validity of previous decisions after the modification of the current constraints or specifications; (6) re-use the design records when upgrading an existing WWTP or when designing similar facilities; (7) generate documentation of the decision making process; and (8) associate a variety of documents as annotations to any component in the design history. The paper also shows one possible future role of design support systems as they outgrow their current reactive role as repositories of historical information and start to proactively support the generation of new knowledge during the design process

© Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, 2000, vol. 14, núm. 1, p. 45-61

Elsevier

Author: Rodríguez-Roda Layret, Ignasi
Poch, Manuel
Bañares-Alcántara, René
Date: 2000
Abstract: This paper presents a case study that explores the advantages that can be derived from the use of a design support system during the design of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). With this objective in mind a simplified but plausible WWTP design case study has been generated with KBDS, a computer-based support system that maintains a historical record of the design process. The study shows how, by employing such a historical record, it is possible to: (1) rank different design proposals responding to a design problem; (2) study the influence of changing the weight of the arguments used in the selection of the most adequate proposal; (3) take advantage of keywords to assist the designer in the search of specific items within the historical records; (4) evaluate automatically the compliance of alternative design proposals with respect to the design objectives; (5) verify the validity of previous decisions after the modification of the current constraints or specifications; (6) re-use the design records when upgrading an existing WWTP or when designing similar facilities; (7) generate documentation of the decision making process; and (8) associate a variety of documents as annotations to any component in the design history. The paper also shows one possible future role of design support systems as they outgrow their current reactive role as repositories of historical information and start to proactively support the generation of new knowledge during the design process
Format: application/pdf
ISSN: 0954-1810
Document access: http://hdl.handle.net/10256/2880
Language: eng
Publisher: Elsevier
Collection: Reproducció digital del document publicat a: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0954-1810(99)00023-0
Articles publicats (D-EQATA)
Is part of: © Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, 2000, vol. 14, núm. 1, p. 45-61
Rights: Tots els drets reservats
Subject: Aigües residuals -- Depuració
Aigües residuals -- Plantes de tractament
Sewage disposal plants
Sewage -- Purification
Title: Application of a support system to the design of wastewater treatment plants
Type: info:eu-repo/semantics/article
Repository: DUGiDocs

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