Chandrasekeran, Prabhushankar

Prabhu is the North American practice leader for our digital water transformation and smart utility services. There, he helps clients with their strategic vision towards becoming a Utility of the Future by instituting business process management practice, and by developing an integrated data and application platform that enables asset visibility, decision efficiency and transparency, and cross-functional collaboration. Prabhu's key areas of specialization include digital water transformation, business process management, decision intelligence system development. He's also worked extensively in asset maintenance planning and optimization, capital improvement planning, risk management and master planning. Prabhu's experience being a professional engineer designing and managing linear systems and treatment facilities allows him to bring his technical skills to the development of digital automation and advanced asset management programs.

Titles from this speaker

Digital Twins

Abstract

The Water utilities have invested significantly in the use of information and automation technologies over the past several decades to improve service to customers and enable our employees to be more effective and efficient in carrying out their work. Past “digital investments” in the process control and automation, and enterprise IT solutions undertaken by the water utilities each had limitations which complicated the full recognition of achieving the digital maturity for our industry. The current generation of disruptive technologies help remediate many of the limitations of the earlier digital solutions and offer an opportunity to improve the process of decision making and improve business processes to realize targeted business outcomes. Calculations, equations, algorithms, and models supporting and enabling the decision-making process must be improved to achieve higher confidence of recommended decisions and reduction in the decision-making latency. Data modeling and simulation become an integral feature of this digitally transformed utility that helps with scesnario analysis, emergency management, predictive maintenance, operator training and tailored safety programs. Digital Twin is an advanced version of a simulated model or a digital version of an entity. This paper will provide the background and basics of Digital Twins, models used for building the twins, the technology architecture to implement a Digital Twin, and multiple use cases of Digital Twins for energy optimization, process/chemical feed optimization. The case studies are for one of the largest water utilities in the nation that built Digital Twins for various applications including predictive maintenance of vertical assets and operator training.

The following conference paper was presented at WEFTEC 2021, October 16-20, 2021. To read the full abstract, see "Abstract" tab below.

SpeakerChandrasekeran, Prabhushankar

Presentation time

11:15:00

11:30:00

Session time

11:00:00

12:30:00

SessionDigital Twins: Trial by Jury

Session number202

TopicFacility Operations and Maintenance, Intelligent Water, Research and Innovation, Resilience, Disaster Planning and Recovery

Author(s)

Prabhushankar Chandrasekeran

Author(s)P. Chandrasekeran1; J. Cullen2;L. Edmonds3;D. Crawford4;

Author affiliation(s)Stantec, 6110 Frost Place, Laurel MD1Stantec, Irvine, CA2,3Stantec, Buckingham Court, Frederick Place, London Road, High Wycombe, HP4

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2021

DOI10.2175/193864718825158034

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count3

Description: It's No Longer a Buzz Word, Digital Transformation Is Happening: Learn How to...

It's No Longer a Buzz Word, Digital Transformation Is Happening: Learn How to Develop a Smart Utility Transformation Program from City of Atlanta DWM

Abstract

The City of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management (DWM) is creating a Smart Utility Program as one of the key strategic initiatives to achieve their Utility of the Future vision. While it is usually attractive to focus on the technology aspects, DWM’s Smart Utility Program is centered around people, policy, and processes. As a first step, the department will focus on performance management, business process optimization, and use case prioritization before investing resources into new project implementation. As DWM’s trusted advisor for over 20 years, Stantec’s team has partnered with the department and collaborated to develop the Smart Utility Strategic Plan, describing the framework, steps, and projects to be implemented under this pioneer program. The DWM is beginning its Phase-I activities involving the development of its strategic performance management framework, business process framework, and an integrated smart utility architecture. The benefits of this transformative program will be realized in many of the utility's business capabilities—service delivery, workforce development enhancements, infrastructure reliability, operational efficiency, financial resiliency, regulatory compliance, and safety and security.

SpeakerChandrasekeran, Prabhushankar

Presentation time

13:30:00

13:50:00

Session time

13:30:00

15:10:00

SessionTowards the Digital Sewershed: What's In Yours?

Session number224

TopicAsset Management, Facility Operations and Maintenance, Intelligent Water, Utility Management and Leadership

Author(s)

P. ChandrasekeranT. MartinP. PerciavalleP. PerciavalleK. JohnsonC. Puccio

Author(s)P. Chandrasekeran1; T. Martin1; P. Perciavalle1; P. Perciavalle1; K. Johnson1; C. Puccio1;

Author affiliation(s)Stantec Consulting Engineers Inc., MD1

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2020

DOI10.2175/193864718825157821

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count25

Description: Utility investment optimization using proven TOTEX Framework - Case Studies and...

Utility investment optimization using proven TOTEX Framework - Case Studies and Lessons from UK Water Experience

Abstract

Water companies in the UK are preparing their second Totex based plans for submission to Ofwat for the period 2020-25. In addition to presenting Totex efficient plans to drive value for customers, the regulator is also looking for companies to have a specific focus on resilience in their long-term asset planning. From our work supporting clients to address these challenges, we share examples of Totex driven approaches and solutions which are delivering efficiencies and improving the resilience of water and wastewater services in the UK. We examine how to embed a Totex approach in the persona of an organization and the wider supply chain. We also show how a Totex approach can be extended to facilitate co-creation and co-delivery of solutions with customers and external stakeholders to enhance resilience of water and wastewater services.

The following conference paper was presented at WEFTEC 2021, October 16-20, 2021. To read the full abstract, see "Abstract" tab below.

SpeakerChandrasekeran, Prabhushankar

Presentation time

13:45:00

14:00:00

Session time

13:30:00

14:30:00

Session'Capturing the ROI': Translating Asset Management to CapEx and OpEx

Session number304

TopicAsset Management, Intelligent Water, Resilience, Disaster Planning and Recovery

Author(s)