Parallel computing in water network analysis and leakage minimization

In this paper a parallel computing based software demonstrator for the simu lation and leakage minimization of water networks is presented. This demons trator, based on the EPANET package, tackles three different types of probl ems making use of parallel computing. First, the solution of the hydraulic problem is treated by means of the gradient method. The key point in the pa rallelization of the method is the solution of the underlying linear system s, which is carried out by means of a multifrontal Choleski method. Second, the water quality simulation problem is approached by using the discrete v olume element method. The application of parallel computing is based on div iding the water network in several parts using the multilevel recursive bis ection graph partitioning algorithm. Finally, the problem of leakage minimi zation using pressure reducing valves is approached. This results in the fo rmulation of an optimization problem for each time step, which is solved by means of sequential quadratic programming. Because these subproblems are i ndependent of each other, they can be solved in parallel.