Uncertainty Analysis of Conventional Water Treatment Plant Design for Suspended Solids Removal
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 11
Abstract
An approach that links a Monte-Carlo simulation based reliability program with the water treatment process behavior and performance model is presented for uncertainty analysis of the conventional water treatment plant (WTP) design. The expected mass concentration of suspended solids in the effluent water is employed as a measurement of system reliability. The approach for uncertainty analysis of a WTP is illustrated with a hypothetical case study. The parameters contributing significantly to the variability of concentration in the effluent water are identified. From an operational viewpoint, the variability in effluent water quality resulting from uncertainty in the system parameters is investigated. Also, improvement in the reliability of WTP using modified design parameters is investigated along with its cost implications. From the results, a method to calculate a set of safety factors corresponding to various performance reliability levels is proposed.
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Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully thank Dr. Rajesh Gupta, Professor of Civil Engineering, VNIT, Nagpur, for review and useful comments on the paper. The writers would also like to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that improved the manuscript.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 11 • November 2006
Pages: 1413 - 1421
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 13, 2004
Accepted: Feb 22, 2006
Published online: Nov 1, 2006
Published in print: Nov 2006
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