Optimized phased planning for dynamic rehabilitation of integrated municipal infrastructure

Abstract

ABSTRACT Phased planning for municipal infrastructure is based on the time-dependent status of multiple networks, which is in contrast to the traditional approach, where one-phase construction and a single status are considered for planning system activities. This study integrates and optimizes the corridor-wise intervention planning of water, sewer, and road networks where the number of equally long phases and intervention decisions are among the decision variables showing the extent to which phase number optimization can impact the cost and coordination of the interventions in interdependent systems. Optimizing the phase number for municipal infrastructure optimization within an evolutionary algorithm is a challenging task due to the evolutionary recombination between numerous planning solutions with different decision variable lengths. A multi-phase design and construction approach is developed for the rehabilitation of the system in a real case study in Montreal, Canada. The study involves 20 corridors in which a street section is co-located with water and sewer pipes. A metaheuristic single-objective optimization engine is employed to minimize the total net present value of intervention plan costs for the whole integrated system. The results show that phased optimization could bring about a 25% cost saving for the rehabilitation master plan and coordinated multi-systems intervention activities.