Development of a Decision Support System for Hydraulic and Structural Design of Water & Wastewater Treatment Units

Abstract

This research work concentrated on developing a computer-aided Decision Support System (DSS) to facilitate design tasks and aid decision support of water and wastewater treatment units and processes. The developed system is entitled Wastewater’s Interactive & Simplified Analysis Model (WISAM©). The formulated DSS has been modelled and developed using Microsoft Visual Basic.NET programming language, with thorough implementation of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) guides, as well as the conceptual aid of Unified Modelling Language (UML) paradigms. The developed programme structure has been formed in such a dynamic package that eases future inclusion, addition and update of individual Water Treatment Units and Wastewater Treatment Units (WTU/WWTU). Ultimately, it allows designing, simulating and optimizing WTU/WWTU performance for all defined processes and units. The results obtained from running the software on some selected WTU/WWTU types can be exported to a database file, which can be opened in a GIS/Spreadsheet/database management software (such as ESRI ArcGIS, MS Excel, and MS Access respectively). An online website has also been launched as an integration with WISAM software for interactivity and communication with interested environmental engineers and research scientists in the field. This website platform can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the days of the year via URLs: http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/WISAM or http://wisam.sourceforge.net. Validation criteria have been met in compliance with Software Engineering and Development methods. Validation of such software via verifying its logic has been the governing concept of confidence. The research concluded, among many other points, to emphasise the fact that WISAM have a strong potential in leading the modern concept of WTU/WWTU analysis and design; with its unique structure as a DSS platform. Finally, a strong recommendation has emerged from the research findings for adopting WISAM’s capabilities by engineers and practitioners in the field. Additionally, further recommendations have included several enhancement points that could add to WISAM’s future expansion.