ECONOMICAL PLANNING OF WATER DISTRIBUTION

NETWORK USING NON LINEAR PROGRAMMING

METHOD
Arpit B. Chaudhari1, A. N. Ghadge2, Prashant P. Nagrale3
1
ME Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Andheri (W),
Mumbai-58, Mail ID: chaudharyarpit1121@gmail.com
2
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Andheri (W),
Mumbai-58, Mail ID: ghadgean@gmail.com
3
Professor & HOD, Department of Civil Engineering, Sardar Patel College of Engineering, Andheri (W),
Mumbai-58, Mail ID: aditya_prashant2004@yahoo.co.in

ABSTRACT
Water supply of a city is very vital for Occupants living in it. Water distribution needs to be
carefully planned in order to satisfy water demands while minimizing the various types of
associated costs. Technical and financial constraints urge the persuasion to optimally plan the
water supply network. In water supply system the function of carrying water is done through
well planned distribution system choosing suitable diameter of pipes as it comprises of 60-70%
of the total investment in the system. In this area a number of search methods, complex
programs and algorithms have been proposed and attempted for the main concern of designing
the most least cost network simultaneously satisfying the required minimum pressure head and
discharge at the demand nodes. As these methods involve complex algorithms, programs and
functions which require a lot of technical knowledge, as such it becomes difficult to implement
such mechanisms for optimization by everyone in many cases. In these Study, a simple water
distribution network was designed using traditional design method of branch software and for
further Optimization a Non Linear Programming model has been suggested which doesn’t
involve such entanglement so that an average user can easily understand and implement it.

Keywords: Distribution System, Least Cost, Branch software, Optimization, Non linear
Programming.
1. INTRODUCTION
Distribution networks are an essential part of all water supply systems. Distribution system
costs within any water supply scheme may be equal to or greater than 60 % of the entire cost of
the project. A water distribution system is a collection of hydraulic control elements jointly
connected to convey quantities of water from sources to consumers. Simulation of water
distribution systems using computer technique has reached a mature stage of development.
However, the optimal network design is quite complicated due to nonlinear relationship
between flow and head loss and the presence of discrete variables.

Water distribution network consists of system of pipes or links (through which the water flow),
connected together at nodes which may be at different elevation. In general, the complex will
also include pumps, reservoirs and valves. A node usually has one of the two main functions; it
either receives a supply for the system or it delivers the demand required by consumers. As a
special case, it may satisfy neither of these requirements but merely serve as a junction
between two or more pipes. The pressure head at a supply node is established by the presence
of a pump or a reservoir. Resistances to flow (friction losses) which are the function of length,
diameter, flow rate, and pipe material and roughness occur in the links as the fluid water
around the network from supply nodes to demand nodes. The effect of minor losses may be
including as equivalent pipe lengths.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Alperovits and Shamir (1977) first presented a linear programming gradient (LPG) method in
the optimal design of water distribution network. To apply LPG, they linearized the
mathematical formulation. Segmental lengths of the pipe with different diameters were used as
decision making variables. The objective function was to minimize the cost of the total pipe
lengths. However, it is not desirable to have pipes that constantly change size along the
network. Such pipe arrangement causes bottleneck in the system when the flow direction
changes (Walski et al., 1990). The LPG method is later improved by a number of researchers
(Quindry et al., 1981; Morgan and Glulter, 1985; Fujiwara et al., 1987; Kessler and Shamir,
1989; Fujiwara and Khang, 1990; and Eiger et al., 1994). The improved approaches used
iterative processes. Flow rates or pressure heads are fixed and the pipe sizes are optimized for
the specified flow and pressure requirement.

Morgan and Glulter (1985) considered multiple demand patterns in their work. They adapted a
linear programming model with a Hardy-Cross network solver to design water supply systems.
Kessler and Shamir (1989) presented a two-stage linear programming gradient (LPG) method.
Waheed Adil (2008) described that the main considerations in water distribution network are
head losses and volumetric flow rates required. He stated that piping accounts for one third of
total plant cost and therefore its layout, design and analysis have to be carried out carefully.
According to his report an Optimum Size of the pipe will yield least cost of installation and
operation of desired flow rates.

Ioan Sarbu, (2010) developed an improved linear model which has the advantage of using not
only the cost criteria but also the energy consumption. The model is based linear programming
and allows the optimal determination of diameters for each pipe in the network and length of
the pipes which corresponds to these diameters.

Most of these studies have attempted to apply a variety of heuristic programming methods to
the optimal design of water distribution systems and some of them showed good results. These
methods are complicated and requires technical Knowledge. Also, most of these methods were
applied to the benchmark problems. In these Study, a realistic network for water supply was
designed using traditional design method (branch software) in India and a Non linear
Programming model was formulated in order to ensure least cost of designed network
including the pressure head and flow velocity constraints. Thus a simple method has been
suggested so that an average user can also implement it effectively.

3. Location of Study
Location of study was the zone 6 of R/Northward Part of Mumbai city.

4. MATERIALS AND METHODS

4.1 Data collection

The total area of R/northward region was divided into 7-zones based on residential, industrial,
educational, commercial and agricultural areas. Zone 6 was considered For the design of water
distribution network since these area was small and can be served by only one elevated
reservoir. Information about population data for last 4 decades of R/Northward region, existing
water supply and demand data and road map of R/Northward region was collected from
Municipal corporation of greater Mumbai.

4.2 Population forecasting and Water Demand

On the basis of available data for the 4 decades, population was forecasted for the next two
decades i.e. for 2021 and 2031 using Geometric Increase Method. Water Demand was obtained
by multiplying the projected population to per capita demand of 185 LPCD by taking into
account various needs such as domestic, industrial, fire requirement and leakage losses.
4.3 Distribution Network

Google Earth Software was used to find out the elevation and pipe line Length data of the
proposed Distribution Network. The Water Distribution Network Map was prepared with
EPANET software and all the required parameters such as length and elevation were
incorporated in it.

4.4 Branch Software

The distribution network was first designed using branch software, since in India we are still
using Branch software for the design of Water Distribution Networks. While designing the
distribution network minimum 7m pressure head at each node was kept as constraint.

5. METHODOLOGY
A model based on Non Linear Programming method was prepared in MS Excel for the design
obtained using branch software for Distribution Network of R/northward zone 6, Mumbai City,
where flow occurs due to gravity.

5.1 Optimization Model Formulation

The water distribution network optimization aims to find the optimal pipe diameters in the
network for a given layout and demand requirements. The optimal pipe sizes are selected in the
final network satisfying the conservations of mass and energy, and the constraints (e.g.
hydraulic and design constraints).

The objective function is to minimize the total cost 𝐶𝑇 of the given network:
𝑁

CT = ∑ Ci. Di ∗ Li
i=1

where N is the total number of pipes, Ci Di the cost of pipe i with diameter Di per unit length
and Li is the length of pipe i.

The minimization of cost for a network is characterized by the conservation of mass and the
conservation of energy. The conservation of mass states that the discharge into each node must
be equal to that leaving the node, except for storage nodes (tanks and reservoirs). For a total
number of nodes M in the network, this constraint can be written as:
 𝑀

∑ Qj = 0
𝑗=0

Where Qj represents the discharges into or out of the node j

Different forms for the head loss formula have been developed for practical pipe flow
calculations. In this study, the head loss h𝑓 in the pipe is expressed by the Hazen-Williams
formula:

10.6744 Li Q1.85
i
h𝑓 =
C1.85
i D1.85

Ms Excel solver has been used for optimization and the following parameters were kept as
constraints:

(i) Pressure head across each node must be at least 7 m.

(ii) The list of available commercial pipe diameters with their cost per unit length was provided
and was used as decision Variables in the Optimization Process. (Table 1)

PIPE COST PER UNIT

DIAMETER (mm) LENGTH (Rs./m)
100 1063
125 1383
150 1703
200 2461
250 3327
300 4306
350 5384
400 6602
450 7998
500 9170
600 12245
700 15958
Table 1: Commercial Pipe size and their cost per unit length

5.2 Model Applications

The model was solved using Excel solver under different scenarios ensuring that pressure head
at all the nodes must be greater than or equal to 7m. The application part involves two parts,
first the optimization was performed and then the optimized diameters were checked for
hydraulic requirements such as velocity should be within (0.6 < v < 3 m/s) and pressure at each
node must be greater than or equal to 7m. EPANET software was used for hydraulic
calculations so as to minimize the time taken by manual calculations.

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The hydraulic analysis (Nodes pressure heads), Table 3, for the water distribution system of
R/Northward zone 6, Mumbai city demonstrates that the pressure head ranges between a
minimum of 14.3 m to a maximum of 23.41 m with an average pressure head for all nodes of
18.86 m. This means that the pressure heads are sufficient for the prescribed demands.

Cast Iron (CI) pipes were used for design. Table gives the cost per meter for commercially
available pipe sizes used in the optimization. The cost of original network is calculated using
the costs given in Table . The total number of possible combinations of design for a set of 12
commercial pipes and 32 pipes is 1232 which is difficult to test them; this shows the
importance of optimization. The Hazen-Williams coefficients used in the hydraulic analysis are
C = 140.

Optimization was conducted using Ms Excel solver. Different Combinations of minimum

pressure head Constraints had been used so that 7m or more pressure head exists at each node.
Figure 1. below shows the comparison between the pressure heads at the nodes for the original
design before and after the optimization case.

25

20
33, 18.87627951
33, 17.05204527
PRESSURE (M)

15

BEFORE
10
AFTER

0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33
NODE NO.

Figure 1: Pressure Heads at different Nodes before and after Optimisation Case.
Figure 2 shows the original network diameters and diameters used after optimisation. The total
cost of pipes has been decreased from 65,85,709 Rs. for the original network to 62,50,899 for
the optimized case. Thus, 5.08 % saving was secured over the traditional design.

0.4

0.35

0.3

0.25

0.2 BEFORE
AFTER
0.15

0.1

0.05

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34

Figure 2: Diameter selected before and after Optimisation Case.

6700000

6600000

6500000

6400000

6300000

6200000

6100000

6000000
BEFORE AFTER OPTIMISATION

Figure 3: Cost Comparison before and after Optimisation Case

7. CONCLUSION
In water supply systems, the Distribution Network comprises of 60-70% of the total cost of the
system. Optimization helps in reducing the cost of pipe networks by selecting the best possible
diameter to guarantee the best flow rate. The design for optimal distribution of the network is a
complex task. A number of search methods have been proposed, As these methods involve
complex algorithms, programs and functions which require a lot of technical knowledge, as
such it becomes difficult to implement such mechanisms for optimization by everyone in many
cases. In these Study, a simple water distribution network was designed using traditional
design method of branch software and for further Optimization a Non Linear Programming
model has been suggested which doesn’t involve such entanglement so that an average user
can easily understand and implement it. The results shows that velocity present in all the pipes
lies well within the standard recommended range of 0.3 – 3 m/s. Also, all nodes have pressure
head greater than the minimum standard limit (7m), which means all of these nodes are capable
to meet the future demands placed on it. Total 5.08% saving in cost was secured using these
technique.

8. REFERENCES
1. Pol A. S., 2013, “Estimation of Forecasted Amenities Required in R/North Ward of
Mumbai city”, ME Dissertation, Mumbai university.
2. Mumbai Water Supply, 2009, “Review Report of White Paper”, MCGM.
3. A. Alperovits and U. Shamir (1977), “Design of optimal water distribution
systems”,Water Resource Res AGU 13(6):885-900.
4. Kessler and U. Shamir (1989), “Analysis of linear programming gradient method for
optimal design of water supply networks”, Water Resources Research, Vol. 25(7):1469-
1480.
5. Wu, Z.Y., Walski, T.M., Naumick, G., Dugandzic, J., and Nasuti, R., "Optimizing Water
System Improvement for a Growing Community," International Conference of Computing
and Control in the Water Industry, Sept.5-7, 2005, Exeter, UK.

6. Fujiwara, O., Khang D. B. A two phase decomposition method for optimal design of
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7. Sherali, H. D., Smith, E. P. A Global Optimization Approach to a Water Distribution

Network Design Problem. Journal of Global Optimization. Vol. 11, pp. 107-132, 1997.
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Optimization of Water Distribution Networks. Water Resources Research. Vol. 34, No. 7,
1998.