Hybrid particle swarm optimization and tabu search for the design of large-scale water distribution networks

Abstract

Water distribution network (WDN) optimization has received special attention from various technicians and researchers, mainly due to its high costs of implementation, operation and maintenance. However, the low computational efficiency of most developed algorithms makes them difficult to apply in large-scale WDN design problems. This article presents a hybrid particle swarm optimization and tabu search (H-PSOTS) algorithm for WDN design. Incorporating tabu search (TS) as a local improvement procedure enables the H-PSOTS algorithm to avoid local optima and show satisfactory performance. Pure particle swarm optimization (PSO) and H-PSOTS algorithms were applied to three benchmark networks proposed in the literature: The Balerma irrigation network, the ZJ network and the Rural network. The hybrid methodology obtained good results when seeking an optimal solution and revealed high computational performance, making it a new option for the optimal design of real water distribution networks.