Incorporating flexibility in the long-term design of water distribution systems using operational variables

This work investigates the effect of operational variables on water distribution system design optimisation. The “Anytown” problem is approached with three formulations of the operational decision variables to examine how different models of such components affect the design solutions and the optimisation process. The formulations that jointly optimise operations and design decision variables can double the energy surplus for the same cost compared to a design-only formulation.