A Robust Predictive Control Method for Pump Scheduling in Water Distribution Networks

This paper proposes a Robust Model Predictive Control (RMPC) method for energy-efficient and reliable pump scheduling in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs), accounting for model uncertainties and demand forecast errors. Building on a previous robust control approach, this extended method uses a linear model with bounded disturbances and optimizes affine disturbance-based pump schedules over a receding horizon. The optimization complexity is reduced from ${\mathcal{O}}\left({{N^6}}\right)$ to ${\mathcal{O}}\left({{N^3}}\right)$ via a sparse reformulation. When applied to the Randers WDN in Denmark, the method surpasses traditional MPC variants in meeting constraints while maintaining comparable economic performance.