Pressure-Driven Demand and Leakage Simulation for Pipe Networks Using Differential Evolution

Abstract

Traditional techniques for\rhydraulic analysis of water distribution networks, which are referred to as demand-driven simulation method\r(DDSM), are normally\ranalyzed under the assumption that nodal demands are known and satisfied. In\rmany cases, such as pump\routage or pipe burst, the demands at nodes affected by low pressures will\rdecrease. Therefore, hydraulic analysis of pipe networks under deficient\rpressure conditions using conventional DDSM may cause large deviation from\ractual situations. In this paper, an optimization model is introduced for hydraulic analysis of water\rdistribution networks using a meta-heuristic method called Differential\rEvolution (DE) algorithm. In this methodology, there is no need to solve linear\rsystems of equations, there is a simple way to handle pressure-driven demand\rand leakage simulation, and it does not require an initial solution vector which\ris sometimes critical to the convergence. Also, the proposed model does not\rrequire any complicated mathematical expression and operation.