Multi-objective optimization of water quality sensor placement in drinking water distribution networks

Water quality dynamics describe the transport and decay of certain substances, such as chlorine disinfectant or a dangerous contaminant, in drinking water distribution networks. Water quality sensors can be located at various nodes of the network for monitoring and feedback control purposes. This paper considers the problem of water quality sensor placement in drinking water distribution networks such that the presence of any contaminant substance in the network is detected as effectively as possible. The sensor placement problem is formulated in a fault detection framework and a computational solution methodology is presented based on the iterative deepening of Pareto solutions. A simulation study on a test water distribution network is used to illustrate the proposed solution methodology.