The effect of the intelligent emplacement of pressure-reducing valves in reducing leakage in real water distribution networks

Due to the particular topography of Kaleybar city, the water distribution network of this city has 7 pressure reducing valves that have been experimentally installed in different locations to manage the extra pressure in the network. In this research, the effect of the intelligent emplacement of pressure-reducing valves is investigated by using the valve selection index to reduce leakage and increase network reliability. The aim is to minimize hourly leakage by determining the optimal location and setting of valves, In addition to the minimization of leakage as the objective function, the minimum pressure restriction in three cases of no pressure restriction (minimum pressure restriction equal to 0 meters), water supply at the entrance of the building (minimum pressure restriction equal to 10 meters) and water supply for a four-story building ( minimum pressure constraint equal to 26 m) is considered as a penalty function next to the objective function. For this purpose, a combination of the ant colony optimization algorithm with the EPANET simulator in MATLAB has been used. The results show that with the intelligent emplacement of pressure-reducing valves in Kaleybar City, the leakage of the network has been decreased by 15.9 percent and the reliability of the network has been increased by 15. 5 percent, which shows the effect of intelligent operation planning on water distribution networks in improving their hydraulic performance.