Use of surrogate modelling for multiobjective optimisation of urban wastewater systems

Simulation models are now available to represent the sewer network, wastewater treatment plant and receiving water as an integrated system. These models can be combined with optimisation methods to improve overall system performance through optimal control. Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have been proven to be a powerful method in developing optimal control strategies; however, the intensive computational requirement of these methods imposes a limit on their application. This paper explores the potential of surrogate modelling in multiobjective optimisation of urban wastewater systems with a limited number of model simulations. A surrogate based method, ParEGO, is combined with an integrated urban wastewater model to solve real time control problems. This method is compared with the popular NSGA II, by using performance indicators: the hypervolume indicator, additive binary ɛ-indicator and attainment surface. Comparative results show that ParEGO is an efficient and effective method in deriving optimal control strategies for multiple objective control problems with a small number of simulations. It is suggested that ParEGO can greatly improve computational efficiency in the multiobjective optimisation process, particularly for complex urban wastewater systems.