Pressure Management of Large-Scale Water Distribution Network Using Optimal Location and Valve Setting

This paper presents a new method to optimize the location and setting of Pressure Reducing Valves (PRVs) for adjusting the nodal pressure at different hours of a day by maximizing the reliability of Water Distribution Network (WDN). The methodology is based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm that is written in the MATLAB code by linking to a hydraulic model of the WDN which is implemented in the EPANET. For verifying the proposed method, a sample network and a real large-scale WDN are applied. The results indicate that the determination of the optimal location and setting of PRVs in the WDN are effective in adjusting nodal pressures and reducing leakage rates. Comparison of the results for the cases with optimized PRVs and without PRVs in a real WDN showed that the average leakage rate is decreased about 15.0% and the average reliability index is increased about 24.8%.