Diverting Waste and Drinking Water into the Right Channels
Siemens has developed a software for controlling and simulating the flow
of waste water in sewage systems. As reported in the research magazine "Pictures
of the Future", the engineers created the Siwa Plan Sewer program by
combining their expertise in process engineering for hydraulics with mathematical
optimization and simulation methods for the first time.
In existing sewage
systems, this software can help optimize the flow of waste water. The
objective is to make full use of existing storage systems such as rain spillway
basins whenever possible. This is how Siwa Plan Sewer prevents sections of
a sewage system from overflowing during thunderstorms. It’s difficult
to simulate the flow of water in sewage systems because the flow characteristics
are constantly changing. Small pipes empty into larger ones, and these in
turn branch off or converge. As a result, individual sections of a system
can quickly overflow. To prevent this, Siwa Plan Sewer is fed with all available
data, including information on pipe diameters, the maximum possible flow
and the size of the storage reservoir. To compute which areas still have
unused capacities, the software uses additional information, such as
data on current precipitation levels and the fill level of individual sewage
sections. If there is surplus capacity, the water is systematically channeled
through the sewage system.
The sewage control system is the latest addition to the Siwa Plan module
family. Using sophisticated algorithms, these water and waste water applications
help utilities operate their sewage systems while improving the systems’ safety,
availability and profitability. The Siwa Plan Sim program allows operators
to simulate various scenarios on the realistic user interface. If the
user makes an error, the software simulates the consequences, such as
increased pressure or a leak in the system. Another program, Siwa Plan
Train, was used to train technicians responsible for the maintenance
of a 180-kilometer drinking water pipeline in the United Arab Emirates.
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