A New Vulnerability Measure for Water Distribution Network

Abstract

The main objective of a water distribution network is to provide water to users in compliance with quality and service standards under different conditions. The ability to meet the water demand at the nodes, under the required pressures head, depends on many characteristic factors of the water network, such as various infrastructural components. A water distribution network is a complex system consisting of numerous structural elements and dependent by several factors. Resilience, robustness and vulnerability are of great interest, for these systems, in relation to the possible failure conditions which may compromise the network’s ability to fulfill the project conditions. Vulnerability measures how much the network is fragile: a higher value of vulnerability means that the network is prone to fail in achieving the project conditions. In the present work, a new vulnerability measure based on a topological approach is proposed. A first application of the proposed vulnerability measure on two water networks known in the literature is described, and the obtained results are compared with other performance indices showing a significant correlation.