Shankar Narasimhan S

The nexus between water and energy reveals that transporting water for end use is a highly energy intensive operation. In this work we consider the optimal operation of a water distribution network consisting of pumps delivering water to different reservoirs, with each reservoir catering to a time varying demand. Pumps and ON/OFF valves are used as manipulated variables to minimize energy consumption while meeting the demand. Due to the nonlinear nature of the pump operating curve and the hydraulics, this results in a Mixed Integer Nonlinear Program (MINLP). We propose a three step decomposition approach to solve this problem efficiently. The applicability of this technique is demonstrated on a water network proposed for a municipality in India and the potential advantages are reported. We also compare the solution times required for the proposed technique and a standard solver and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach.

With the demand for water increasing rapidly, optimal operation of Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) is necessary to provide consumers with the maximum amount of water possible in an equitable manner. This paper presents the outcomes of an experimental investigation of supply policies implementable on rural WDNs. Tests conducted on a fully automated lab scale network, configured to represent rural WDNs, shows significant variations in supply time with the operational policy followed. Further, a systematic set of experiments are carried out to determine the flow rates in different network configurations and this data is later used to formulate a linear programming problem that identifies an optimal operational policy for the system.