A mathematical model for the design implementation of main water distribution system considering reliability, break horsepower, and minor head losses.

• Main Authors: Bustos, Jose Mari, Sario, Ramon, Tarigan, Rezza
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2000
• Subjects: Water > Distribution; Water-supply engineering; Industrial Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/10211
• Institution: De La Salle University

At present, water distribution companies rely on their experience and mechanical computations in choosing pipes, pumps, and connectors for the design and operation of its water distribution systems (WDS). Because of this fact, several researches and mathematical models already attempted to solve the optimal design and operation of a WDS. A main Water Distribution System (WDS) is a combination of pipes, connectors, and pumps that delivers water from different sources to various demand nodes. Some of the studies separately focussed on the pipe network design and some on pump selection. But back in 1998, Banaga et. al. attempted to create a model which features both pipe and pump selection. However, their model failed to consider minor head losses, break horsepower, and reliability. Thus, this study was conceptualized and made by considering the mentioned research gaps. This study features a mathematical model which attempts to solve the optimal main WDS design by minimizing the total purchasing and installation cost of pipes, pumps, and connectors. This mixed-integer non-linear programming model was validated using three data sets: 1) hypothetical data, 2) data used by a previouis study (Banaga, et. al.), and 3) actual data. General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS), Microsoft Excel Solver, and Microsoft Excel Premium Solver were used to validate the mathematical model. Sensitivity analysis of the model was done by changing the values of minimum reliability of the system, maximum allowable velocity along the pipes, water availability at the source nodes, and head that can be delivered by the pump, and coefficient of friction of pipes and connectors to determine their effect to the cost of the main WDS. The model have successfully incorporated the minor head losses, break horsepower, and reliability. It can be concluded that the minor head losses affect pressure or head value. Consequently, the total head value affects the selection of pumps that can supply this head value and the selection pipes that can minimize head loss. Furthermore, the inclusion of break horsepower tries to incorporate the efficiency of pumps before selecting it. Lastly, the reliability feature of this model greatly influences the selection of pumps and pipes through the reliability of its materials. Lastly, this study also features a program, Premium WDS version 1.0, which solves the optimal design of a main WDS at the minimum cost possible. The software was developed using Visual Basic Application for Excel.