An analytical method for designing of municipal water supply and distribution systems

Abstract

The clean Water Supply provision is one of the major factors greatly contributing to the socioeconomic transformation of a country. However, many countries have problems in fulfilling the water demand of the continuously growing population and populated areas due to the high level of water losses in distribution networks. Optimization of water distribution system design is one of critical research fields, which has been extremely productive. Its primary focus is to minimize the cost of a proposed pipe network infrastructure. The paper presents the results of research on the development of a new analytical design method that allows creating new water distribution systems or strengthening, expanding and rehabilitating existing water distribution systems, inclusive of design timing, parameter uncertainty, water quality, and other operational considerations. The method is based on the solution of hydraulic problem of a linear pipeline and the use of the newly developed software set for studying hydraulic processes. The solution is determined in the Mixed Integer Programming-MIP and Discontinuous Nonlinear Programming-DNLP connection modes. As research results show it is possible to expand and solve the problems of finding the locations of branching optimal lines connecting the sources (main distribution systems) and consumers. The task set and its solution opens a whole range of opportunities for its successful application in the most diverse branches of science and production.