Hydraulic Models for Calculating Head Loss in Water Distribution System: a case study in Konya

Abstract

The management of the water supply system becomes crucial day by day because of limited natural water sources and rapidly increasing population all over the world. However, the water distribution systems have various technical problems and the energy loss in the system can be counted one of these problems. In this study, the water distribution system of a designated area in the Yaka district of Konya was examined using Hardy-Cross method and, the hydraulic simulation softwares EPANET, and WaterCAD which are used in hydraulic modeling of the water distribution systems frequently. The same data of designated area were used for EPANET and WaterCAD in the study. The calculations demonstrated that the head loss calculated in EPANET is 3.5% and %16.2 lower than that calculated by WaterCAD and Hardy-Cross, repectively when PVC pipes were used in the water network. When polyethelene pipes were used in the water network, the head loss calculated in EPANET is 3.8% and %26.6 lower than that calculated by WaterCAD and Hardy-Cross, repectively. In the case of choosing WaterCAD and Hardy-Cross as the model for water distribution system, the project cost would increase slightly due to increasing the diameter of the pipes for reducing the head loss. It can be concluded that by comparing the head losses, EPANET is more efficient than WaterCAD and Hardy-Cross.