Hydraulic Analysis of Water Distribution Network Using Harmony Search

So far, water distribution networks have been hydraulically analyzed by using various techniques such as Hardy Cross method, Newton-Raphson method, linear theory, and Todini algorithm. This study proposes a novel technique for the analysis of water distribution networks using a phenomenon-mimicking optimization algorithm, harmony search (HS). The HS algorithm mimics the behaviors of musicians in improvisation process, where they play musical notes based upon randomness, experience, or variation of experience. In order to use the HS optimization algorithm, the network analysis is formulated as an optimization problem where energy conservation equation is incorporated in an objective function and mass conservation equations are incorporated in constraints. The proposed HS model is successfully applied to two example networks.