A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology

Research Studies Project Report (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1983

A method is developed for the optimal design of single source, looped gravity fed water distribution systems subjected to a s ingle loading pattern .This method is based on a recent development in the field of looped water distribution systems , so called linear programming gradient (LPG) method ,due to the work of Aleprovits and Shamir ( 1) {u2022} The LPG method has the following drawbacks: the final solution depends much on the starting flow pattern , and the solution does not necessarily terminate at a local minimum point. Our new method strengthens the LPG method in the following aspects: to eliminate high cost flow patterns for the initial solution in a systematic manner, and to modify the stepsize calculation to arrive at a local optimum solution. This new method is applied to the test problem in (2) and a local optimal solution of cost $408,114 is obtained, which is a considerable improvement compared to the solution of $443,031 obtained in (2). ----------- ( 1 ) Aleprovits a nd Shamir ( 1977) " Design of optimal water distribution systems ", Water resources research, Vol13 pp 885-900 (2 ) Quindry. G.E ; Brill, E.D.; Liebman, J.C and Robison, A . , (1 979) "Comments on design of optimal water distribution systems" by Water Resources research. Vol 15 pp 987-990