A surrogate model for simulation–optimization of aquifer systems subjected to seawater intrusion

Hussain, M; Javadi, A; Ahangar Asr, A; Farmani, R

Abstract

This study presents the application of Evolutionary Polynomial Regression (EPR) as a pattern recognition system to predicate the behavior of nonlinear and computationally complex aquifer systems subjected to
seawater intrusion (SWI). The developed EPR models are integrated with a multi objective genetic algorithm
to examine the efficiency of different arrangements of hydraulic barriers in controlling SWI. The
objective of the optimization is to minimize the economic and environmental costs. The developed EPR model is trained and tested for different control scenarios, on sets of data including different pumping
patterns as inputs and the corresponding set of numerically calculated outputs. The results are compared
with those obtained by direct linking of the numerical simulation model with the optimization
tool. The results of the two above-mentioned simulation–optimization (S/O) strategies are in excellent
agreement. Three management scenarios are considered involving simultaneous use of abstraction and
recharge to control SWI. Minimization of cost of the management process and the salinity levels in the
aquifer are the two objective functions used for evaluating the efficiency of each management scenario.
By considering the effects of the unsaturated zone, a subsurface pond is used to collect the water and artificially
recharge the aquifer. The distinguished feature of EPR emerges in its application as the metamodel
in the S/O process where it significantly reduces the overall computational complexity and time. The
results also suggest that the application of other sources of water such as treated waste water (TWW)
and/or storm water, coupled with continuous abstraction of brackish water and its desalination and use is the most cost effective method to control SWI. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to investigate
the effects of different external sources of recharge water and different recovery ratios of desalination
plant on the optimal results.

Citation

Hussain, M., Javadi, A., Ahangar Asr, A., & Farmani, R. (2015). A surrogate model for simulation–optimization of aquifer systems subjected to seawater intrusion. Journal of Hydrology, 523, 542-554. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.01.079

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 30, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Feb 11, 2015
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Dec 15, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 19, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Hydrology
• Print ISSN: 0022-1694
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-2707
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Volume: 523
• Pages: 542-554
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.01.079
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.01.079
• Related Public URLs: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-hydrology/