Fuzzy Analysis of Pressure-Deficient Water Distribution Networks

Abstract

Future water demands and pipe roughness coefficients used in the design of water distribution networks (WDNs) have a high degree of uncertainty. Fuzzy analysis of WDNs provide how the uncertainties in independent or basic parameters (such as nodal demands and pipe roughness coefficients) are propagated to dependent or derived parameters (such as pipe flows, pipe velocities, and available pressure heads). Usually demand dependent analysis is used for such analysis. A WDN may be pressure deficient or may become pressure deficient because of high pipe roughness or inadequate pump pressure and may not be able to meet desired demands at all nodes. Thus, it is desirable to consider the nodal outflows as unknown and as a function of available pressure heads under pressure-deficient conditions. An approach for fuzzy analysis of a WDN that takes into account pressure-deficient condition using node flow analysis is presented in this paper. The proposed methodology is illustrated with an example network taken from literature. The methodology is useful in identifying vulnerable zones in WDNs and can be extended for reliability analysis under uncertainty of nodal demands and pipe roughness coefficients. Comparison of results with usual demand-dependent analysis shows that proposed method is better for identifying vulnerable zones.