Investigation of path requirements in a water distribution network

Abstract

One approach in addressing reliability aspects of water distribution networks is to require two paths from a source to a demand point. The problem faced in these approaches is to define the paths and to what degree there is, or should be, dependency, i.e., common links in those paths. This study attempts to examine the implications associated with these dependency issues. Using an optimization formulation which includes minimum path constraints, various path requirements ranging from a single path to two distinct, independent paths (to each demand node) are investigated.

Keywords:

• dependency
• integer
• optimization
• path
• redundancy
• water distribution