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Updated: Jun 15, 2026

Mesocosm-Scale Constructed Wetland Design for Wastewater Treatment
Published on: May 2, 2025
Real-time control of combined surface water quantity and quality: polder flushing
M Xu1, P J van Overloop, N C van de Giesen
1Section of Water Resources Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Postbox 5048, 2600, GA, Delft, The Netherlands. min.xu@tudelft.nl
Abstract:
In open water systems, keeping both water depths and water quality at specified values is critical for maintaining a 'healthy' water system. Many systems still require manual operation, at least for water quality management. When applying real-time control, both quantity and quality standards need to be met. In this paper, an artificial polder flushing case is studied. Model Predictive Control (MPC) is developed to control the system. In addition to MPC, a 'forward estimation' procedure is used to acquire water quality predictions for the simplified model used in MPC optimization. In order to illustrate the advantages of MPC, classical control [Proportional-Integral control (PI)] has been developed for comparison in the test case. The results show that both algorithms are able to control the polder flushing process, but MPC is more efficient in functionality and control flexibility.
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