Rehabilitation of water distribution networks using particle swarm optimization

Urban centers are in constant growth, with increasing demand for potable water. This requires the rehabilitation of certain pipes that feed the water distribution network, allowing its expansion. In the present work, an optimization model was developed for the rehabilitation and expansion of water distribution networks (WDN), based on particle swarm optimization (PSO). The hydraulic simulator Epanet was used to calculate the velocities and nodal pressures. The decision variables (diameters) were treated as integer variables and the change in the internal roughness of the pipe due to use was considered. The problem has a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) formulation. Four case studies were used to test the applicability of the developed model. Results showed the efficiency of the proposed solution for the model and are coherent with previous published results in the literature.