posted on 2017-09-01, 15:11authored byOlya Skulovich, Avi Ostfeld
This study presents a physarum polycephalum-inspired mathematical model for the solution of the problem of least cost design of water distribution systems. We propose modifications of the classical physarum polycephalum mathematical model to adjust it for water distribution system optimization. The methodology was tested on two small-scale benchmark examples: two-loop and Hanoi networks. In the both cases, the obtained results are 10-11% above the known optimal solution, however, the number of iterations required to achieve them are exceptionally small. The proposed approach should be further tested for its applicability to the larger networks. Altogether, the method can serve as a good and easily obtainable first approximation for the least cost water distribution system design.