Browsing by Author "Goosen, Ockert Johann"

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    A digital twin architecture for a water distribution system.
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-11) Goosen, Ockert Johann; Basson, AH; Kruger, K; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The incorporation of Industry 4.0 technologies in the water sector is providing water utilities with the necessary tools and insights to combat WDS-related challenges such as water management (e.g. leak detection) and future planning to meet increasing demand. A key enabler in Industry 4.0-related technologies is the concept of a digital twin. Digital twins may provide water utilities with improved insight into their WDSs and enable services that can facilitate data-driven decision-making. This thesis proposes and evaluates a digital twin architecture for a water distribution system (WDS) based on the Six Layer Architecture for Digital Twins with Aggregation (SLADTA). The digital twin architecture aims to facilitate the unique challenges and characteristics present in WDSs. Aspects include the complexity of heterogenous monitoring devices installed on WDSs and potential physical and management-related reconfigurations of WDSs. This thesis evaluates whether digital twin architecture designed according to SLADTA can overcome these challenges and provide the framework to develop a WDS digital twin with the desired characteristics. Several modifications were made in the process of mapping SLADTA (previously implemented in the manufacturing and renewable energy infrastructure domains) to a WDS-focused digital twin architecture. The thesis evaluates the WDS digital twin architecture using two case studies, each with several experiments, to determine whether the proposed architecture can meet the determined WDS digital twin requirements. The case studies also explore how the aggregation philosophy, inherent in SLADTA, can be implemented on WDSs. The first case study implements the WDS digital twin architecture for a laboratory scale WDS. The laboratory scale WDS replicates the real-world complexity of heterogeneous data sources by containing a variety of monitoring devices commonly used in industry. This case study also shows the ability of the WDS digital twin to integrate services, such as anomaly detection. In the second case study, a large-scale, simulated WDS is used to evaluate the WDS digital twin architecture’s ability to accommodate reconfiguration. WDS-related reconfiguration includes changes to a WDS’s monitoring capacity, changes to a WDS management organisations’ boundaries or zone and adding new WDS infrastructure to an existing digital twin. Additionally, the WDS digital twin architecture’s ability to incorporate WDS domain services, such as modelling of the hydraulic behaviour in a WDS, is investigated. The performance of the WDS digital twin architecture presented in this thesis is, therefore, demonstrated in a real-world, but laboratory-scale, case study and in a complex, but simulated, case study. The case study implementations show that the proposed architecture is capable of meeting the functional requirements that were derived from WDS operator needs.