Minimizing Excess Pressures by Optimal Valve Location and Opening Determination in Water Distribution Networks

Water leakage, which could be defined as supplied, treated, transmitted and finally lost volume of a water source; needs to be minimized in a water distribution network (WDN). This paper presents a heuristic optimization model to minimize excess nodal pressures in a water distribution network by determining the location and setting of control valves. The optimization technique is based on Genetic Algorithms (GA) which could be defined as a search heuristic that imitates the process of natural selection. The eventual optimization objective is to find optimal setting of control valves to decrease excess pressures and water leakage proportionally. The main body of the methodology is divided into sub-sections. These sections allocate the operative valves considering both Steady State (SS) and Extended Period Simulation (EPS) cases consecutively. The setting of operative valves are then determined in the final step by employing Throttle Control Valves (TCVs) into the network. The developed model has been applied on a case study network that has 89 nodes and considerable excess pressure decrements are handled.