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Real-time UAV routing strategy for monitoring and inspection for post-disaster restoration of distribution networks

Fu, J. (author), Nunez, Alfredo (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author)

Natural disasters pose a tremendous risk to the reliability of distribution networks. In this paper, a novel real-time UAV routing strategy for coordination between monitoring and inspection for post-disaster restoration in distribution networks is proposed. With our proposed real-time UAV routing strategy, damages can be inspected by UAVs...

journal article 2022

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Distributed Model-Free Adaptive Predictive Control for Urban Traffic Networks

Li, D. (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author)

Data-driven control without using mathematical models is a promising research direction for urban traffic control due to the massive amounts of traffic data generated every day. This article proposes a novel distributed model-free adaptive predictive control (D-MFAPC) approach for multiregion urban traffic networks. More specifically, the...

journal article 2022

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Distributed Adaptive Optimization with Weight-Balancing

Yue, D. (author), Baldi, S. (author), Cao, Jinde (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author)

This article addresses the continuous-time distributed optimization of a strictly convex summation-separable cost function with possibly nonconvex local functions over strongly connected digraphs. Distributed optimization methods in the literature require convexity of local functions, or balanced weights, or vanishing step sizes, or algebraic...

journal article 2022

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An MPC-Based Rescheduling Algorithm for Disruptions and Disturbances in Large-Scale Railway Networks

Cavone, Graziana (author), van den Boom, A.J.J. (author), Blenkers, Lex (author), Dotoli, Mariagrazia (author), Seatzu, Carla (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author)

Railways are a well-recognized sustainable transportation mode that helps to satisfy the continuously growing mobility demand. However, the management of railway traffic in large-scale networks is a challenging task, especially when both a major disruption and various disturbances occur simultaneously. We propose an automatic rescheduling...

journal article 2022

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A scenario-based distributed model predictive control approach for freeway networks

Liu, S. (author), Sadowska, A.D. (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author)

In this paper a scenario-based Distributed Model Predictive Control (DMPC) approach based on a reduced scenario tree is developed for large-scale freeway networks. In the new scenario-based DMPC approach, uncertainties in a large-scale freeway network are distinguished into two categories: global uncertainties for the overall network and...

journal article 2022

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A mix design methodology of slag and fly ash-based alkali-activated paste

Sun, Beibei (author), Sun, Yubo (author), Ye, G. (author), De Schutter, Geert (author)

In this paper, a series of experiments were conducted to systematically and quantitively explore the effects of control factors on the early age properties, i.e., workability and strength of slag and fly ash-based alkali-activated paste (BFS/FA-AAP). The control factors on the workability (flowability and setting time) of BFS/FA-AAP include...

journal article 2022

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Intra-day scheduling of a local energy community coordinated with day-ahead multistage decisions

Orozco, Camilo (author), Borghetti, Alberto (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author), Napolitano, Fabio (author), Pulazza, Giorgia (author), Tossani, Fabio (author)

The paper presents a coordinated day-ahead and intra-day approach for the scheduling of the resources in a local energy community (LEC). The considered LEC consists of a collective of power prosumers that can directly trade energy with each other in addition to the external provider. The scheduling approach is based on the alternating...

journal article 2022

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Logic-based distributed switching control for agents in power-chained form with multiple unknown control directions

Lv, Maolong (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author), Shi, Chao (author), Baldi, S. (author)

This work studies logic-based distributed switching control for nonlinear agents in power-chained form, where logic-based (switching) control arises from the online estimation of the control directions assumed to be unknown for all agents. Compared to the state-of-the-art logic-based mechanisms, the challenge of power-chained dynamics is that...

journal article 2022

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Evaluation of rheology and strength development of alkali-activated slag with different silicates sources

Sun, Yubo (author), Ghorbani, Saeid (author), Dai, Xiaodi (author), Ye, G. (author), De Schutter, Geert (author)

This study provides a detailed investigation on the reproducibility of two groups of alkali-activated slag (AAS) mixtures, from both fresh properties and strength development perspectives. Three different commercial sodium silicate solutions and one lab-produced silicate activator (made of silica fume and sodium hydroxide) were used to...

journal article 2022

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A 3D reactive transport model for simulation of the chemical reaction process of ASR at microscale

Qiu, Xiujiao (author), Chen, J. (author), Ye, G. (author), De Schutter, Geert (author)

A 3D reactive transport model at microscale is proposed for simulating the chemical reaction process of alkali silica reaction (ASR) thermodynamically and kinetically including the dissolution of reactive silica, the nucleation and growth of ASR products and the dissolution of calcium hydroxide (CH) and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) as a...

journal article 2022

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Insights in the chemical fundamentals of ASR and the role of calcium in the early stage based on a 3D reactive transport model

Qiu, Xiujiao (author), Chen, J. (author), Ye, G. (author), De Schutter, Geert (author)

Prediction of alkali silica reaction is still difficult due to the lack of a comprehensive understanding of its chemical fundamentals. In-site experimentally revealing the fundamentals is not realistic as ASR shows over several years or even decades and is affected by many factors. In this paper, by utilizing a 3D reactive-transport...

journal article 2022

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Accelerated optimal maintenance scheduling for generation units on a truthful platform

Fu, J. (author), Nunez, Alfredo (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author)

Maintenance of generation units is a measure to ensure the reliability of power systems. In this paper, a novel blockchain-based truthful condition-based maintenance of generation units (T-CBMGU) platform is proposed to innovate and upgrade state-of-the-art CBMGU. In addition, two valid inequalities are proposed to accelerate the convergence...

journal article 2022

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Effect of High-Range Water-Reducing Admixtures on Alkali-Activated Slag Concrete

Sun, Yubo (author), Tao, Yaxin (author), Rahul, A. V. (author), Ye, G. (author), De Schutter, Geert (author)

The rapid workability loss of alkali-activated materials (AAM) has been a major obstacle limiting its onsite application. In this study, two conventional SPs (made of polynaphthalene sulfonate (PNS) and lignosulfonate (LS) salts), which have been reported to be effective in some specific AAM mixtures were separately applied in alkali...

journal article 2022

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Short-Term Traffic Flow Prediction Based on the Efficient Hinging Hyperplanes Neural Network

Tao, Qinghua (author), Li, Zhen (author), Xu, Jun (author), Lin, Shu (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author), Suykens, Johan A.K. (author)

Traffic flow (TF) prediction is an important and yet a challenging task in transportation systems, since the TF involves high nonlinearities and is affected by many elements. Recently, neural networks have attracted much attention for TF prediction, but they are commonly black boxes with complex architectures and difficult to be interpreted,...

journal article 2022

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Fresh and hardened properties of alkali-activated slag concrete: The effect of fly ash as a supplementary precursor

Sun, Yubo (author), Liu, Zhiyuan (author), Ghorbani, Saeid (author), Ye, G. (author), De Schutter, Geert (author)

The present study explores the possibility of replacing blast furnace slag (BFS) with coal fly ash (FA) to produce alkali-activated material (AAM) concrete with hybrid precursors. With an increased FA replacement ratio, the reaction kinetics, fresh and hardened properties of AAM mixtures have been investigated. The retardation effect on the...

journal article 2022

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Robust Optimal Control for Demand Side Management of Multi-Carrier Microgrids

Carli, Raffaele (author), Cavone, Graziana (author), Pippia, T.M. (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author), Dotoli, Mariagrazia (author)

This paper focuses on the control of microgrids where both gas and electricity are provided to the final customer, i.e., multi-carrier microgrids. Hence, these microgrids include thermal and electrical loads, renewable energy sources, energy storage systems, heat pumps, and combined heat and power units. The parameters characterizing the...

journal article 2022

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Finite-sample analysis of identification of switched linear systems with arbitrary or restricted switching

Shi, S. (author), Mazhar, Othmane (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author)

For the identification of switched systems with measured states and a measured switching signal, this work aims to analyze the effect of switching strategies on the estimation error. The data is assumed to be collected from globally asymptotically or marginally stable switched systems under switches that are arbitrary or subject to an average...

journal article 2022

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Combined MPC and reinforcement learning for traffic signal control in urban traffic networks

Remmerswaal, Willemijn (author), Sun, D. (author), Jamshidnejad, A. (author), De Schutter, B.H.K. (author)

In general, the performance of model-based controllers cannot be guaranteed under model uncertainties or disturbances, while learning-based controllers require an extensively sufficient training process to perform well. These issues especially hold for large-scale nonlinear systems such as urban traffic networks. In this paper, a new...

conference paper 2022

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Future perspectives for alkali‐activated materials: from existing standards to structural applications

Rossi, Laura (author), Miranda de Lima Junior, L.C. (author), Sun, Yubo (author), Dehn, Frank (author), Provis, John L. (author), Ye, G. (author), De Schutter, Geert (author)

The production of cement and concrete contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas emissions. Alkali‐activated concretes (AACs) are a family of existing alternative construction materials that could reduce the current environmental impact of Portland cement (PC) production and utilisation. Successful applications of AACs can be found in...

journal article 2022

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Rheology of alkali-activated slag pastes: New insight from microstructural investigations by cryo-SEM

Sun, Yubo (author), Zhang, Shizhe (author), Rahul, A. V. (author), Tao, Yaxin (author), Van Bockstaele, Filip (author), Dewettinck, Koen (author), Ye, G. (author), De Schutter, Geert (author)

This study aims to interpret the early-stage rheology of alkali-activated slag (AAS) paste from microstructure perspectives. The microstructures visualized by cryogenic scanning electron microscopy (cryo-SEM) revealed the essential distinction between hydroxide and silicate-activated slag pastes. The hydroxide-based mixture showed typical...

journal article 2022