Efficient Groundwater Remediation System Design Subject to Uncertainty Using Robust Optimization
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 133, Issue 3
Abstract
Many groundwater remediation designs for contaminant plume containment are developed using mathematically based groundwater flow models. These mathematical models are most effective as predictive tools when the parameters that govern groundwater flow are known with a high degree of certainty. The hydraulic conductivity of an aquifer, however, is uncertain, and so remediation designs developed using models employing one realization of the hydraulic conductivity field have an associated risk of failure of plume containment. To account for model uncertainty attributable to hydraulic conductivity in determining an optimal groundwater remediation design for plume containment, a method of optimization called robust optimization is utilized. This method of optimization is a multiscenario approach whereby multiple hydraulic conductivity fields are examined simultaneously. By examining these fields simultaneously, the variability of the uncertainty is included in the model. To increase the efficiency of the robust optimization approach, a sampling technique is developed that allows the modeler to determine the minimum number of field realizations necessary to achieve a reliable remediation design.
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Acknowledgments
This work was made possible through funding by the U.S. Department of Energy, Contract No. DOEDE-FG07-97ER62525.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 133 • Issue 3 • May 2007
Pages: 253 - 263
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 25, 2005
Accepted: Apr 19, 2006
Published online: May 1, 2007
Published in print: May 2007
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