Application of Clustered-NA-ACO in three-objective optimization of Water Distribution Networks

ABSTRACT

Optimal operation of pumping stations in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) is presented based on three conflicting objectives, including 1) pumping energy costs, 2) hydraulic reliability, and 3) quality reliability. We proposed a three-objective optimization algorithm called Clustered Non-dominated Archiving Ant Colony Optimization (Clustered-NA-ACO) and evaluated the efficiency of this algorithm through DTLZ test functions. Incorporating k-means clustering strategy with NA-ACO can greatly improve the distribution of solutions and reduce the run time compared to NA-ACO. A pressure-driven analysis tool called EPANET-Iterative Modifications to Nodal Outflows (EPANET-IMNO) is developed for dynamic analysis of WDNs and linked directly to Clustered-NA-ACO. We applied this simulation-optimization tool to two WDNs. The results show that it is necessary to consider hydraulic reliability and quality reliability as two separate objective functions in WDNs with storage tanks. We also suggested the combined form of the two reliability indicators in the optimization of WDNs without any storage tanks.

KEYWORDS:

• Water distribution network
• pump scheduling
• three-objective optimization
• Clustered-NA-ACO
• hydraulic reliability
• water quality reliability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).