Hydraulic System Reliability of Water Distribution Networks

A water distribution network (WDN) should
accommodate the abnormal conditions caused by
failures. These types of failures can be classified
into two groups; mechanical failures and hydraulic
failures. Mechanical failure is caused due to
malfunctioning of the network elements such as pipe
breakage. Hydraulic failure, on the
other hand, considers system failure due to
distributed flow and pressure head which are
inadequate at one or more demand points. This study
deals with the calculation of the hydraulic system
reliability of an existing WDN. A case study was
carried out on a part of Ankara (Turkey) WDN. The
daily
demand curves for the area were drawn using the data
that were taken from SCADA of the water utility. The
friction coefficients of the pipes and storage
tank water elevation were taken as other uncertainty
parameters. The sensitivity analysis
for the effects of system characteristics and model
assumptions were carried out. Results of this study
were helpful to see the effects of different
parameters on the hydraulic reliability calculations
and for assessment of the methods for improving the
reliability for the network.

Autorentext

Metin Misirdali, 1979 Ankara, Turkey. MSc: Middle East Technical Universtiy Civil Engineering Dept. Water Resources Laboratory. Deputy General Manager at Yolsu Engineering Services Ltd.

Klappentext

A water distribution network (WDN) should accommodate the abnormal conditions caused by failures. These types of failures can be classified into two groups; mechanical failures and hydraulic failures. Mechanical failure is caused due to malfunctioning of the network elements such as pipe breakage. Hydraulic failure, on the other hand, considers system failure due to distributed flow and pressure head which are inadequate at one or more demand points. This study deals with the calculation of the hydraulic system reliability of an existing WDN. A case study was carried out on a part of Ankara (Turkey) WDN. The daily demand curves for the area were drawn using the data that were taken from SCADA of the water utility. The friction coefficients of the pipes and storage tank water elevation were taken as other uncertainty parameters. The sensitivity analysis for the effects of system characteristics and model assumptions were carried out. Results of this study were helpful to see the effects of different parameters on the hydraulic reliability calculations and for assessment of the methods for improving the reliability for the network.