IMPLICATIONS OF HEAD LOSS PATH CHOICE IN THE OPTIMIZATION OF WATER DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS

The effects of varying the paths used to ensure adequate pressure throughout a water distribution network when using iterative linear programming-gradient search techniques for least cost solution of the network are analyzed. The path choice is shown to affect how the initial flows are changed, i. e. , increased or decreased, by the gradient expressions in the flow modification step. The long-term implication of the difference in the way the flows are changed is a variation in the relative importance in terms of flows of the various links within the system. The amount of flow in a particular link in the final solution appears to be dependent on how often that link is included in the pressure-defining constraints.