Effect of Water Distribution System Configuration on Nodal Pressure, Water Quality, and Pumping Energy Uncertainties

Water distribution system (WDS) complexity increases as its size increases. Not only size, but the configuration of the system also plays an important role in solving a water distribution system for its hydraulics and water quality. The flow pattern and the dynamics of the system heavily depend on the system configuration. A smaller change in parameter value in a loop configuration system would affect the system flow pattern and dynamics more than the branch configuration, as there are multiple paths to convey the required flow to a single node. On the other hand in a branch system a single path is typically used to convey the required flow to a node. Water distribution system model can predict the required and delivery heads, pressures, pumping energy, water quality, etc. Thus, the WDS model helps decision making in planning, design, operation, and management. The model input parameters can affect the model predictions. While some input parameters may affect the model outputs less, the others may affect significantly. The system configuration adds another complexity to it. The impacts of these input parameters may be different in different configuration systems. This paper considers a wide range of input parameters to observe their effects on model prediction uncertainties in nodal pressure, pumping energy requirement, and nodal water quality using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). The effect of the system configuration on model prediction uncertainty is observed by applying the MCS to eight (8) water distribution systems of different configurations.