Revisión: Optimización de las aguas subterráneas costeras—avances, desafíos y soluciones prácticas

Decision models are essential tools for coastal groundwater management (CGM). A combined simulation-optimization framework is employed to develop these models. One of the main barriers in the widespread application of these models for real-world cases is their large computational burden. Recent advances in efficient computational approaches and robust optimization methods can crack this barrier. This study surveys the scientific basis of CGM to provide an overview on this subject and reviews the-state-of-the-art to clarify recent developments and to outline ideas for improving the computational performance. Key details are presented on the performance and choice of possible robust tools such as efficient evolutionary algorithms (EAs), surrogate models, and parallel processing techniques. Then, the potential challenges remaining in this context are scrutinized, demonstrating open fields for further research, which include issues related to advances in simulating and optimizing phases such as introducing new robust algorithms and considering multi-objective purposes, implementing novel and high-performance tools, considering global concerns (e.g. climate change impacts), enhancing the existing models to fit the real world, and taking into account the complexities of real-world applications (e.g. uncertainties in the modeling parameters, and data acquisition). Finally, the outcomes of the systematic review are applied to solve a real-world CGM problem in Iran, to quantitatively examine the performance of combined implementation of some of the suggested tools. It is revealed that the required computational time is considerably reduced by as much as three orders of magnitude when correct combinations of robust EAs, surrogate model, and parallelization technique are utilized.