Online surrogate multiobjective optimization algorithm for contaminated groundwater remediation designs

This paper proposes an online surrogate model-assisted multiobjective optimization framework to identify optimal remediation strategies for groundwater contaminated with dense non-aqueous phase liquids. The optimization involves three objectives: minimizing the remediation cost and duration and maximizing the contamination removal rate. The proposed framework adopts a multiobjective feasibility-enhanced particle swarm optimization algorithm to solve the optimization model and uses an online surrogate model as a substitute for the time-consuming multiphase flow model for calculating contamination removal rates during the optimization process. The resulting approach allows decision makers to find a balance among the remediation cost, remediation duration and contamination removal rate for remediating contaminated groundwater. The new algorithm is compared with the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II, which is an extensively applied and well-known algorithm. The results show that the Pareto solutions obtained by the new algorithm have greater diversity and stability than those obtained by the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II, indicating that the new algorithm is more applicable than the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II for optimizing remediation strategies for contaminated groundwater. Additionally, the surrogate model and Pareto optimal set obtained by the proposed framework are compared with those of the offline surrogate model-assisted multiobjective optimization framework. The results indicate that the surrogate model accuracy and Pareto front achieved by the proposed framework outperform those of the offline surrogate model-assisted optimization framework. Thus, we conclude that the proposed framework can effectively enhance the surrogate model accuracy and further extend the comprehensive performance of Pareto solutions.