Targeted path search algorithm for optimization of water distribution networks

Abstract

ABSTRACT A novel heuristic method for the optimal design of a looped Water Distribution Network (WDN) is proposed. The method is based on the determination of optimal paths that water will follow in a WDN. The new method does not have any parameters that need to be adjusted and does not require a penalty function. It progresses by constantly updating an initial solution, while it gathers information from the neighboring search space. The optimization process is guided by two individual subroutines that universally and consecutively try targeted decreases of the diameters of the network pipe diameters, thus performing exploration and exploitation of the search space. The algorithm is applied to three benchmark networks to demonstrate its effectiveness and efficiency.