On Solving Aquifer Management Problems with Simulated Annealing Algorithms

Aquifer systems play an essential role in meeting the ever increasing use of water for different purposes. Proper design and management of such systems should therefore be a very important matter of concern, not only to ensure that water will be available in adequate quantity (and quality) to satisfy demands but also to guarantee that this would be done in an optimal manner. This paper presents a model serving to define which water supply structures (especially pumping equipment and pipes) should be installed in order to minimize the sum of set-up costs and operation costs while satisfying demands, using a heuristic approach based on simulated annealing. Annealing algorithms are random local search optimization algorithms that allow, at least in theory and in probability, the determination of a global optimum of a (possibly constrained) function. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1999