Optimal Selection of Pumps in an Hydraulic Network

Abstract

The selection of pumps in an hydraulic network (such as those found in plant firewater systems or hydraulic control systems) is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear program. The design objective is to minimize the total relative pump first cost. The piping network is assumed to exist and hence is not modified during the optimization process. A method is given for the transformation of the mixed integer nonlinear program into a mixed integer separable program. This formulation allows the use of efficient algorithms for the design of hydraulic networks. It also offers an alternative for the analysis of hydraulic networks. This technique may also be used for the analysis and design of general networks with nonlinear elements subject to convexity conditions. Two examples are given which consider an analysis problem and a design problem.