OPTIMAL ALLOCATION OF PIPE DIAMETERS IN PIPE NETWORKS USING MODIFIED ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM APPROACH

Abstract

Water supply to areas of need via pipe network has been a problem since the pipes layout involved may be complex and thereby making the determination of pipe diameters for cost minimization difficult. In this paper, attempt was made on the determination of optimal diameters of pipe that minimizes pipe network cost. The work involves the use of linear programming optimization techniques formulated in a modified assignment problem approach. This was applied to a problem previously worked upon with some other techniques to ascertain the strength of this present approach implemented on MATLAB 6.5 version computing environment. The minimum cost unit of 41900 for eight-pipe, one reservoir and two loop distribution system obtained was the same with that of the “best run” in the previous reported works. Also, 12 functions evaluation in 53 seconds on Pentium 233MH_Z processor computer produced this optimal condition as against the 1372 evaluations in 7 minutes on Pentium 100MHZ processor computer for the previous “best run”. These indicate the efficiency and the effectiveness of the studied approach.