Hybrid green-blue-gray decentralized urban drainage systems design, a simulation-optimization framework

Recent studies suggested hybrid green-blue-gray infrastructures (HGBGI) as the most promising urban drainage systems that can simultaneously combine reliability, resilience, and acceptability of gray infrastructures (networks of pipes) with multi-functionality, sustainability, and adaptability of green-blue infrastructures (GBI). Combining GBI and gray measures for designing new urban drainage systems forms a nonlinear multimodal mixed integer-real optimization problem that is highly constrained and intractable. For this purpose, this study presents a simulation-optimization framework to optimize urban drainage systems considering HGBGI alternatives and different degrees of centralization. The proposed framework begins with the characterization of the site under design and drawing the base graph. Then, different layouts with different degrees of centralization are generated and hydraulically designed using a recent algorithm called hanging gardens algorithm. After introducing the feasible GBI to the model, we now perform second optimization to find the optimum distribution of GBIs in a way that minimizes total life cycle costs of GBIs and pipe networks. Finally, resiliency and sustainability of different scenarios are evaluated using several design storms that provide material for final assessment and decision-making. The performance of the proposed framework is evaluated using a real large-scale case study, a part of the city of Ahvaz in Iran. Finally, results are presented and discussed with recommendations for future studies. [Display omitted] •We proposed a framework to optimize hybrid green-blue-gray infrastructures (HGBGI).•HGBGI can economically compete with gray-only pipe networks.•Green-blue infrastructures (GBI) are more effective on more centralized networks economically.•The more a design uses GBI the more environmentally sustainable and less resilient it is.•Optimization of HGBGI should be done in a multi-objective framework.