This paper discusses an engineering optimization problem which arises in hydraulics and is related to the use of a new criterion for sizing water distribution piping in large buildings. The optimization model aims to find the most suitable interior pipe diameters for the various pipes in the system, using commercial sizes and minimizing the overall installation cost according to some boundary conditions. The problem is formulated as a nonconvex nonlinear program and a branch-and-bound algorithm is introduced for its solution. A procedure is proposed to obtain a feasible solution with standard values from the optimal solution of the nonconvex program. The performance of the algorithm is analysed for a real-life problem and the cost of the computed solution is assessed, showing the appropriateness of the model and the optimization techniques.
An optimization problem is described, that arises in telecommunications and is associated with multiple cross-sections of a single power cable used to supply remote telecom equipments. The problem consists of minimizing the volume of copper material used in the cables and consequently the total cable cost. Two main formulations for the problem are introduced and some properties of the functions and constraints involved are presented. In particular it is shown that the optimization problems are convex and have a unique optimal solution. A Projected Gradient algorithm is proposed for finding the global minimum of the optimization problem, taking advantage of the particular structure of the second formulation. An analysis of the performance of the algorithm for given real-life problems is also presented.
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