The present disclosure relates to predictive decision support systems and Hydro-informatics technologies to provide users with recommended actions to mitigate the impact of an upcoming storms event and improve the operations of stormwater/conveyance systems. The disclosure integrates Internet of Things, Web Services, Hydrology and Hydraulic modeling, machine learning, predictive data analytics, and visualization. The application introduces for stormwater/conveyance system operators, municipalities, and citizens a timely actionable flood mitigation scenario for a storm that may happen in the upcoming future, for example, the next 48 hours. It aims to reduce the risk of property and infrastructure damage, as well as enhance community safety and resilience.
Cities are vulnerable to extreme rainfall and urban flooding disasters. This vulnerability increases significantly in cities impacted by climate change and Sea Level Rise (SLR). Given the current and future changes on the magnitude and duration of storm events, integration of hydrologic and hydraulic modeling with real-time data is critical to improving management of stormwater/conveyance systems and reducing flood risks. Better stormwater resilience planning is needed for building an efficient seamless integration between weather data and hydrologic and hydraulic models, developing proper interpretation of the simulation scenarios in real-time, and sharing results among watershed stakeholders and city managers. Despite the availability of different hydrologic and hydraulic models and their ability to simulate historic events, the technology of connecting models with data, predicting and identifying the impact of an upcoming storm event present real challenges.
Additionally, stormwater/conveyance systems are out of sight assets. Aging of these buried assets is a looming threat to all utilities because they are difficult to inspect, can catastrophically fail, and are costly to replace. Stormwater/conveyance systems usually lack data processing in real-time to support actions and efficient operation. The technology for understanding the impact of upcoming storm events on the system is not available yet. These systems are assumed to be operating to specification unless there is a major problem (i.e., clogging, structural failures, capacity limits, etc.). Therefore, there is a need for a new technology to assess the impact of upcoming storms and identify critical points in the stormwater/conveyance network and recommend solutions for users.
Today, real-time data analytics and Internet of Thing (IoT) provides developers and users with a powerful tool that can extract insights and support actions in real-time. The operator of the system can elevate the performance of the system even with scarce financial resources. The wastewater and stormwater sectors are, in some cities, data-rich, but poor in the data analytics tools. Collecting vast troves of data that can be used to derive, understand, and analyze relationships about system performance will provide insights for operators to better manage the system. In addition, the collected data can be combined and compared against a physical model of operation to inform the process and maximize efficiency. Data-analytics in a real-time approach can provide insights to understand the performance of the infrastructures and use this information to maximize their operational availability and capacity within a constrained budget.
The presently disclosed an actionable stormwater services platform (or water analytics platform) brings together methodologies, not currently available in the art. The platform's adaptability allows for keeping up with the most recent data and industry standards and gives flexibility to meet various city and system needs. The platform currently evaluates site-specific and collective impacts of individual flood events and presents value risk assessments. The platform estimates direct physical damages, problem areas within the stormwater/conveyance system, and provides related analysis for implementation and assessment by end-users. Some preferred embodiments include additional modules for direct and indirect loss of public service and their impacts to the service population.
The following presents a simplified summary of embodiments of the present invention in order to provide a basic understanding of such embodiments. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all contemplated embodiments, and is not intended to delineate the scope of all embodiments.
The present disclosure provides a predictive decision support system that relies on integrated information technology. The innovation integrates Internet of Things, Web Services, Hydrologic and Hydraulic modeling, machine learning, predictive data analytics, and visualization to provide users with recommended actions to mitigate the impact of the upcoming storms.
The platform provides two alternatives for predicting the impact of upcoming, for example the next 48 hours, storm event on the storm/sewer collection system, estimating streets that will be flooded, identifying vulnerable facilities, prioritizing critical areas, and/or providing recommendations for the actions and measures that need to be taken to mitigate the storm impact and better operate the system. The two alternatives include: (i) physical-based alternative, which relies on the well-calibrated hydraulic model to estimate the storm impact, and (ii) machine-learning alternative, which depends on a neural network for estimating the storm impact.
The objective of the present invention is to provide an information capturing and processing flood risk assessment system and method, comprising a mobile computing device for receiving a plurality of user input data. In some embodiments, the mobile computing device is configured to receive the user input data from a user at the mobile computing device, as well as receive third-party data from individual service providers at the mobile computing device. The user input data and third-party data may comprise, in some embodiments, digital data, further comprising climate data, remote sensing, flow monitoring data, and a list of vulnerable assets.
The summary above is neither intended nor should it be construed as being representative of the full extent and scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure is set forth in various levels of detail in the summary, as well as in the attached drawings and the detailed description below. No limitation as to the scope of the present disclosure is intended by either the inclusion or non-inclusion of elements, components, etc. in this summary. Additional aspects of the present disclosure will become more readily apparent from the detailed description, particularly when taken together with the drawings.
The detailed description herein makes reference to the accompanying drawings and/or figures, which show the exemplary embodiment by way of illustration and its mode. While these exemplary embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, it should be understood that other embodiments may be realized and that logical and mechanical changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the detailed description herein is presented for purposes of illustration only and not of limitation. Moreover, any reference to singular includes plural embodiments, and any reference to more than one component may include a singular embodiment.
The platform automates the integration between weather data, which is the key driver in system, with Hydrologic/Hydraulic (H/H) models. The platform brings predicted weather data for the near future, for example, the next 48 hours, summarizes the storm characteristics, and evaluates its return period based on the Intensity Duration Frequency (IDF) curves associated with the concerned area. The platform provides outputs that may include the following:
As illustrated in
The Knowledge Extractor includes a set of Web services that can communicate with weather databases that have Application Programming Interface (API) such as NOAA to bring weather information (e.g., climate data, remote sensing data), including precipitation and/or tide level for the next 48 hours. The services use REST API (also known as RESTFul API) services and store the incoming data in local database.
The Data-Model Manager is an intermediate module that integrates the data with the appropriate model. For example, some areas may have a Hydrologic and Hydraulic (H/H) one dimensional (1D) model and have a rain on mesh model. The Data-Model Manger processes the forecasted weather data including precipitation, temperature, and tide information, if available, to the H/H model. The module is responsible for formatting the weather data to match the H&H model input requirements. It has two format converters that extract the data from the database and format them to match EPA's Storm Water Management Model (SWMM)-based models. The Data-Model Manager is connected with either a previously calibrated physical model or neural network model (e.g., artificial neural network algorithm). The Data-Model Manager is responsible to run the model and store the simulation results in the local database.
In one embodiment, the artificial neural network algorithm for flood hydrograph uses three-layer network as shown in
One embodiment of the neural network algorithm (Algorithm 1) is shown below:
The Visualization-Actions module comprises two main sub-modules: (i) actions that have algorithms for building decisions based on flood control algorithm (Algorithm 2) and flood assessment algorithm (Algorithm 3), and (ii) visualization component (which may be achieved though Power BI dashboard, a web-based data management system that allows visualization, interactive collaboration, and provenance tracking of data files). The present invention transfers the graphs and plots from a desktop application to a scalable web-based application that is then used to create graphs with multiple adjustments, given basin-specific parameters, which allows comparison of results.
Algorithm 2 (flood control algorithm in hydraulic network) analyzes the simulation output, identifies and annotates critical elements (nodes, pipes, and pumps), e.g., vulnerable assets that might be subject to failure or overload beyond capacity limit, in the system, and provides user with recommended action—if the network has the capacity to mitigate the upcoming storm's impacts. Below is an embodiment of Algorithm 2 wherein “n” be a node in network of Nodes N, “c” be a conduit in a network of conduits C, and “p” be a pump in network of Pumps P.
Algorithm 3 (flood assessment algorithm in rain over mesh) analyzes the simulation results, identifies and flags flood spots on the mesh, and clusters the water depth of mesh pixels to characterize potentially flooded roads and houses. The algorithm provides notifications to users of the critical spots and recommended actions—if the system has the capacity to mitigate the upcoming storm's impacts. Below is an embodiment of Algorithm 2 wherein “n” be a node in 2D mesh N, “r” be road in the road network R, “s” be a storm inlet in storm network, and “p” be a pump in network of Pumps P.
In one embodiment, the visualization is provided through a Power BI dashboard that may include the following visuals:
The previous description of the disclosed examples is provided to enable any person of ordinary skill in the art to make or use the disclosed apparatus. Various modifications to these examples will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the principles defined herein may be applied to other examples without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosed apparatus. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive and the scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the disclosed apparatus.
This application claims the benefit of and priority from U.S. provisional application No. 63/140,017 filed on Jan. 21, 2021 and entitled WATER ANALYTICS PLATFORM. The contents of the above applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in full.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63140017 | Jan 2021 | US |