TECHNICAL PAPERS
Jun 1, 1989

Statistics‐Based Approach to Wastewater Treatment Plant Operations

Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 115, Issue 3

Abstract

This paper describes work toward development of a convenient decision support system to improve everyday operation and control of the wastewater treatment process. The goal is to help the operator detect problems in the process and select appropriate control actions. The system comprises subsystems for database management, data analysis including several statistical methods, and expert advice. The statistical methods investigated include construction of external reference distributions, computation of moving averages, graphical methods, discriminant functions for early detection of upsets and several kinds of control charts. The latter two methods are not built into the expert system. Reference distributions are used to help define fuzzy terms such as high and low for the conditions of the variables involved in the expert system control rules. The system is written in dBase‐III and Lotus 1‐2‐3 and has a user‐friendly interface for communication between the user and the system.

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Published In

Go to Journal of Environmental Engineering
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 115Issue 3June 1989
Pages: 650 - 671

History

Published online: Jun 1, 1989
Published in print: Jun 1989

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Authors

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P. M. Berthouex, Member, ASCE
Prof., Dept. of Civ. and Envir. Engrg., Univ. of Wisconsin‐Madison, Madison, WI 53706
Wenje Lai
Res. Asst., Dept. Indust. Engrg., Univ. of Wisconsin‐Madison, Madison, WI
A. Darjatmoko
Res. Asst., Dept. of Civ. Envir. Engrg., Univ. of Wisconsin‐Madison, Madison, WI

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