Divide and conquer partitioning techniques for smart water networks

Inserting remote control valves in a water distribution system allows the implementation of the “divide and conquer” paradigm that consists in dividing a large network into smaller subsystems, also called water network partitioning (WNP), for applying water balance, pressure control and water quality protection. Some heuristic procedures, based on different techniques (graph theory, clustering, graph partitioning, etc.), have been proposed recently for finding optimal WNP solutions. The authors developed a software, named SWANP (Smart WAter Network Partitioning), that allows to find automatically the optimal partitioning layout. In this paper, a first comparison is presented between SWANP and other procedures. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of WDSA 2014.