Hydraulic modeling and calibration of drinking water distribution networks

Abstract

The objective of the study was to model and analyze three drinking water distribution networks, calibrate them with Epanet Calibrator software and compare their results with Darwin Calibrator. An ultrasonic flowmeter and pressure data loggers were used, which were configured to record data every ten minutes, the mean of the flows at each node of interest in the network was obtained. The pressure data was used to adjust each network and by varying the roughness, the model could be calibrated and adjusted, among those mathematically simulated with the data obtained in the field. Using this information, equations and calibration curves were established to discriminate the discrepancy between what was modeled and what was observed in the field. Hydraulic calibrations were performed using the Darcy-Weisbach and Hazen-Williams formulas. The results show for each network a variation in the calibrations of 35, 15 and 10 %. It is concluded that these two computational applications show similar results between the simulated and observed data, with the difference that calibration in Epanet is carried out node by node, while in Darwin Calibrator it can be performed by means of groups of calibrations in a given sector.