Article ID: | iaor20031123 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 40 |
Issue: | 5 |
Start Page Number: | 481 |
End Page Number: | 490 |
Publication Date: | Sep 2002 |
Journal: | Ground Water |
Authors: | Chang Liang-Cheng, Hsiao Chin-Tsai |
Keywords: | control processes, programming: dynamic |
In time-varying ground water remediation, the lack of an optimal control algorithm to simultaneously consider fixed costs and time-varying operating costs makes it nearly impossible to obtain an optimal solution. This study presents a novel algorithm that integrates a genetic algorithm (GA) and constrained differential dynamic programming (CDDP) to solve this time-varying ground water remediation problem. A GA can easily incorporate the fixed costs associated with the installation of wells. However, using a GA to solve for time-varying policies would dramatically increase the computational resources required. Therefore, the CDDP is used to handle the subproblems associated with time-varying operating costs. A hypothetical case study that incorporates fixed and time-varying operating costs is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Simulation results indicate that the fixed costs can significantly influence the number and locations of wells, and a notable total cost savings can be realized by applying the novel algorithm herein.