Water Networks Management: Assessment of Heuristic and Exact Approaches for Optimal Valve Location and Operation Settings Schedule

This paper deals with the optimal design-for-control of water distribution networks (WDNs) with the objectives of minimizing pressure-induced background leakage and maximizing resilience. This problem entails defining locations for installing valves and/or pipes and for simultaneously determining valve settings and belongs to the class of non-convex mixed-integer nonlinear problems. Solving highly complex infrastructure problems, such as WDNs, raises a fundamental question about the accuracy of the solutions to be implemented for sound water management. Therefore, two kinds of optimization methods are applied and assessed on two case studies. While the first is an exact global optimization method, the second is the metaheuristic based on the concept of simulated annealing. This paper proposes an innovative methodological analysis to interpret and discuss the results provided by both methods, as well as to identify their impact on the performance of the WDN. This type of analysis may help in highlight how the integration of the best features of both solution methods can promote a step forward in solving WDN problems.