A mathematical programming problem is formulated for a water network with new water sources included. Salinity and water hardness are considered in the model, which is later solved using the Max-Min Ant System (MMAS) to assess the impact of new water sources on the total cost of the existing network. It is efficient to include new water sources if the distances to them are short or if there is a high penalty associated with failure to meet demand. Desalination unit costs also significantly affect the decision whether to install new water sources into the existing network while softening costs are generally negligible in making such decisions. Experimental results show that, in the example considered, it is efficient to reduce number of desalination plants to remain with one central plant. The Max-Min Ant System algorithm seems to be an effective method as shown by least computational time as compared to the commercial solver Cplex.
展开▼
机译：针对包含新水源的水网络提出了数学规划问题。该模型考虑了盐度和水硬度，随后使用最大最小蚂蚁系统（MMAS）对其进行求解，以评估新水源对现有网络总成本的影响。如果与新水源的距离很短或与无法满足需求相关的高罚款，则包括新水源是有效的。海水淡化单位的成本也极大地影响了是否在现有网络中安装新水源的决策，而软化成本在做出此类决策时通常可以忽略不计。实验结果表明，在所考虑的示例中，减少海水淡化工厂的数量以保留一个中央工厂是有效的。与商用求解器Cplex相比，用最少的计算时间即可显示，Max-Min Ant System算法似乎是一种有效的方法。
展开▼
