Determination of Optimal Location and Settings of Pressure Reducing Valves in Water Distribution Networks for Minimizing Water Losses

Abstract

The determination of the optimal location and settings of PRV is an operational problem that water utilities must deal with in order to reduce the real losses that are inherent to their water distribution system. In this research, a multi-objective optimization approach was developed to provide an optimal solution for the addressed problem, using the well-known metaheuristic algorithm NSGA-II and including the usage of hydraulic criteria to reduce the solution space, in order to enhance the performance of the procedure. The proposed methodology was tested using two different networks, which differ in their leakage configuration and the hydraulic parameters used for this modeling.