Application of simulated annealing in water resources management: optional solution of groundwater contamination source characterization problem and monitoring network design problems

[Extract] Estimating various characteristics of an unknown groundwater pollutant source can be formulated as an optimization problem using linked simulation-optimization. Meta-heuristics based optimization algorithms such as Simulated Annealing (SA), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Tabu Search etc. are now being accepted as reliable, faster and simpler ways to solve this optimization problem. In this chapter we discuss the suitability of a variant of traditional Simulated Annealing (SA) known as the Adaptive Simulated Annealing (ASA) in solving unknown groundwater pollutant source characterization problem