Environmental and Hydrological Systems Modelling

Mathematical modelling has become an indispensable tool for engineers, scientists, planners, decision makers and many other professionals to make predictions of future scenarios as well as real impending events. As the modelling approach and the model to be used are problem specific, no single model or approach can be used to solve all problems, and there are constraints in each situation. Modellers therefore need to have a choice when confronted with constraints such as lack of sufficient data, resources, expertise and time.

Environmental and Hydrological Systems Modelling provides the tools needed by presenting different approaches to modelling the water environment over a range of spatial and temporal scales. Their applications are shown with a series of case studies, taken mainly from the Asia-Pacific Region. Coverage includes:

• Population dynamics
• Reaction kinetics
• Water quality systems
• Longitudinal dispersion
• Time series analysis and forecasting
• Artificial neural networks
• Fractals and chaos
• Dynamical systems
• Support vector machines
• Fuzzy logic systems
• Genetic algorithms and genetic programming

This book will be of great value to advanced students, professionals, academics and researchers working in the water environment.

A.W. Jayawardena obtained his undergraduate degree BSc (Eng) Hons from the University of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and postgraduate degrees MEng from the University of Tokyo, MS from the University of California at Berkeley, and PhD from the University of London. He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the UK Institution of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, and a Life Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. His academic career includes many years of teaching in the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Hong Kong; he was also a Research and Training Advisor to the International Centre for Water Hazard and Risk Management (ICHARM) under the auspices of UNESCO and hosted by the Public Works Research Institute of Japan, a Professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan, and an Honorary Professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Sciences of the University of Hong Kong. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Hong Kong, Technical Advisor to the Research and Development Centre, Nippon Koei Co. Ltd. (Consulting Engineers), Japan, and a Guest Professor of Beijing Normal University, China. He has been a specialist consultant for UNESCO and for several engineering consulting companies in Hong Kong, including as an expert witness and provider of expert opinion in several legal cases in Hong Kong.