Multi-purpose design of water supply networks in order to reduce pressure surplus of network (Case study: Ismail Abad water supply network)

Finding optimal pipe diameters in water supply networks for minimizing design costs due to the constraints and high decision variables is one of the major challenges for designers. In the last few decades, the development and introduction of new optimization methods, the good performance of these methods in solving complex engineering problems has led engineers to develop these methods in the design of water networks. In the present study, the performance of one of the emerging metaheuristic algorithms called Ant Lion Optimizer (ALO) in solving the problem of optimizing the diameters of water supply networks was considered. For this purpose, a multi-objective optimization-simulation model based on the ALO and the EPANET simulator model was developed. The developed model was used to optimize the diameter of Ismail Abad network pipes. The results were presented as a Pareto front between the design cost and the sum of the pressure difference squares. The results showed that using this model in addition to saving design costs about 15% compared to the existing design conditions; it has been significantly successful in reducing overload pressure in the nodes. As a result, this method can be used with confidence as an efficient method in designing water supply networks.