Reliability of optimal partitioning of water distribution networks

Abstract

Optimal partitioning of water distribution networks is a novel approach for the analysis and management of hydraulic systems. It covers technical aspects such as metering water consumption, control of pressure and leakages, location of isolation valves, and early contaminant detection. In this work, optimal partitioning reliability is evaluated by considering demand increments for a given number of consumers. First, the partitioning is obtained by maximizing the modularity index, and then, the resulting communities are analyzed and contrasted with the original unsegmented network. In addition, a comparison is performed with the structure obtained by maximizing an objective function which combines the modularity and resilience of the network. The procedure is applied to two hydraulic systems: an academic network of 25 nodes and the Córdoba Province network.