Simulation-optimization Model for Design of Water Distribution System using Ant Based Algorithms

In this paper, the Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm (ACOA) is applied to solve Water Distribution System design optimization problem proposing two different methods. Considering pipe diameters as decision variables of the problem, Ant System and Max-Min Ant System, referred to ACOA1 and ACOA2 respectively, are applied to determine pipe diameters. In proposed methods, the ant-based models are interfaced with EPANET as simulator for the hydraulic analysis. Three benchmark test examples are solved with proposed methods and the results are presented and compared with those obtained with other existing methods. The results show the capability of the proposed methods to optimally solve the design optimization problem in which best results are obtained with ACOA2 in comparison with other available results. Furthermore, the results show the superiority of the proposed ACOA2 over than the ACOA1 in which the trade-off between the two contradictory search characteristic of exploration and exploitation is managed better by using Max-Min Ant System