Optimal Placement of Valves in a Water Distribution Network with CLP(FD)

TL;DR

This paper applies Constraint Logic Programming to optimize valve placement in water distribution networks, achieving better solutions than previous methods by leveraging constraint propagation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of CLP to a hydraulic engineering problem, improving solution quality for valve placement in water networks.

Findings

Better solutions than previous best for Apulian network

Demonstrates effectiveness of CLP in hydraulic design

Potential for broader application in hydroinformatics

Abstract

This paper presents a new application of logic programming to a real-life problem in hydraulic engineering. The work is developed as a collaboration of computer scientists and hydraulic engineers, and applies Constraint Logic Programming to solve a hard combinatorial problem. This application deals with one aspect of the design of a water distribution network, i.e., the valve isolation system design. We take the formulation of the problem by Giustolisi and Savic (2008) and show how, thanks to constraint propagation, we can get better solutions than the best solution known in the literature for the Apulian distribution network. We believe that the area of the so-called hydroinformatics can benefit from the techniques developed in Constraint Logic Programming and possibly from other areas of logic programming, such as Answer Set Programming.