A Study on the Effects of Model Structure and Demand Allocation on Water Network Modeling

Abstract

Objectives:In order to reduce the uncertainty of the pipe network modeling, the model structure was basically included all distribution pipes and several models were proposed according to the location of the water meters.Methods:For models verification, first, a steady state simulation of each model was made by constructing a model including all water supply pipes (All-meters Model), which are the bases of 3 simplified models, and considering the location of all water meters. The network analysis was performed by dividing into the steady state and the extended period simulation.Results and Discussion:From the results of models comparison, ‘All-meters Model’ and ‘All-connections Model’ were found to obtain more accurate results for constructing a water network model for simulation of water quality events in distribution network. When constructing an ‘All-meters Model’ in all networks, the model becomes complicated and data management does difficult. Therefore this study suggests a hybrid model construction.Conclusions:It would be reasonable to construct a detailed model (All-meters or All-connections Model) in looped network in which the water flow path can be changed according to the difference of water head, and a skeletonized model (Street-meters aggregation or Reduced-meters Model) for a branch network that does not have a significant impact on demand allocations.