Closure to “Revisiting the Resilience Index for Water Distribution Networks” by Gimoon Jeong, Albert Wicaksono, and Doosun Kang

The excess pressure available in water distribution networks (WDNs) is a relevant aspect in the management and appropriate handling of water resources. If a WDN meets the minimum performance criteria (minimum pressure and maximum flow), excess pressure can occur throughout the day, which is usually lost. These excesses could be considered as potentially recoverable energy (PRE). One way of taking advantage of this energy is to find the nodes on the network where this excess pressure is evident and try to analyze the possible amount of PRE. This work presents a methodology to determine the maximum PRE in a WDN. This methodology includes the locations of the points where the installation of recovery devices leads to this maximum PRE. The method is based on reducing pressures but maintaining circulating points through the lines. Additionally, a new energy balance that allows visualizing and breaking down in more detail all the energy found in a WDN is proposed. The analysis is carried out in an extended period considering different feeding points either by gravity or pumping. Finally, a network resilience index called the Potentially Recoverable Energy Index (PREI) in WDNs is proposed, with which it is possible to diagnose and determine how much energy could be recovered from the network. Study cases presented demonstrate the effectiveness of the methodology and will allow the development of optimizations in the operation of WDNs in favor of the good management of water and energy resources.

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The Evaluation of Reliability Indices in Water Distribution Networks under Pipe Failure Condition

10.5194/dwes-2020-37 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Alireza Moghaddam ◽

Roya Peirovi-Minaee ◽

Hossein Rezaei ◽

Alireza Faridhosseini ◽

Ali Naghi Ziaei

Keyword(s):

Water Distribution ◽

Real Life ◽

Distribution Networks ◽

Simulation Software ◽

Water Distribution Networks ◽

Network Resilience ◽

Pipe Failure ◽

Reliability Indicators ◽

Resilience Index ◽

Failure Conditions

Abstract. In this research, reliability indicators of water distribution networks are evaluated under pipe failure conditions. The case studies include two benchmark and one real-life water distribution networks in Iran with more hydraulic constraints. Some important reliability indicators are presented such as resilience index, network resilience, modified resilience index and minimum surplus head index. GANetXL is used to do one-objective and two-objective optimization of the previously mentioned water distribution networks in order to not only minimize the cost, but also maximize the reliability indicators. Moreover, the results of a statistical analysis for each pipe is used to determine the sensitive pipes that are of the most failure probability. GANetXL is an optimization tool in Excel environment and works based on Genetic Algorithm. GANetXL has the capability of being linked to EPANET (Hydraulic simulation software). The results obtained clearly show that network resilience index is of poor performance when compared with the other indexes under pipe failure conditions, especially in real-life networks that include small pipe diameters. It was also showed that if a water distribution network was optimized only in terms of cost, there would be an unacceptable pressure drop at some nodes in case of pipe failure.

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