Improved fuzzy chance-constrained optimization of booster strategy for water distribution system under uncertainty

Abstract

Abstract To sustain water quality in a water distribution system (WDS), disinfectant generally chlorine is boosted to the WDS. However, the concentration of chlorine should be limited to acceptable levels. The upper boundary of the range is set for preventing the occurrence of a disinfectant by-product, which is harmful to human health. The lower boundary of the range is set for controlling the growth of microorganisms as well as reducing the injection mass. As such, an optimization model was applied to solve the water quality issue in a WDS. However, in a WDS, chlorine decays and varies with time and space, affected by pipe material, temperature, pH value, and chlorine injection, etc. Therefore, in this paper, an improved fuzzy chance-constrained optimization model was proposed to optimize chlorine injection and location to maintain chlorine in a WDS distributed uniformly. The proposed model was applied to two WDSs to analyze the effect of reliability level and preference parameters on chlorine injection and location. The results indicated that the injection mass increased with the increase in preference parameter. The results also indicated that more booster stations can lower the injection mass, and two booster stations were suitable for WDS in Case 2. The method proposed can be applied to decide how and where to inject chlorine in a WDS under uncertainty, and can help managers determine whether an optimistic or pessimistic attitude should be taken under various reliability levels.