International Journal of Engineering and Technology

The history of water supply and distribution is as old as the history of civilization. In the present society, water supply system has become an important and necessary element. It also gives an indication of level of advancement of society. Water Distribution Network (WDN) is an important component of water supply system which contributes to nearly 70% of the total cost. Optimal design of water distribution network is the aim of any agency dealing with water supply distribution. Consideration of reliability in water distribution networks has been received increasing attention over the past few years. In the present research work, the main focus is on to develop a new parameter for assessing the overall network reliability using fuzzy logic concepts based on the excess pressures available at the demand nodes and to be incorporated in the optimal design and to incorporate this parameter in a two objective optimization model for design of water distribution network using the combination of Genetic Algorithms and EPANET tool kit in the MATLAB environment. The best range of excess of minimum residual pressures is considered in the present study in such a way that the reliability of the network is maximum. The proposed methodology is applied on a two loop gravity network which is referred by most of the researchers. 54 optimal solutions are identified for the network. The Network Reliability Parameter (NRP), Cost Reliability Ration (CRR) and Cost per Unit Reliability and Unit Length (CURUL) parameters are used to compare the results with the previous researchers. It is found that the present study shows better results of when comparing with the results of the previous researchers.