HYDRAULIC CONSTRUCTION 1:

TANKS AND DISTRIBUTION PIPE LINE

ENSTP Yaound, Cameroun

April-May 2014

WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM: SCHEMATIZATION

SPRING (treatment)

Service
pipe line

STORAGE (treatment)

Distribution
pipe line

USERS

TANKS: INTRODUCTION
Water distribution storage tanks is provided to:
ensure the reliability of supply
maintain pressure
equalize pumping and treatment rates
improve operational flexibility and efficiency
When designing a tank it has to be chosen:
Size
Location
Type
expected operation
Equalization: water utilities like to operate treatment plants at a relatively constant rate,
and wells and pumping stations generally work best when pumped at a steady rate.
However, water use in most utilities varies significantly over the course of the day. The
process of filling and draining storage tanks is much easier operationally and is
generally less expensive than other methods.

TANKS: INTRODUCTION
Facilities serving portions of a distribution system with storage tanks generally need to
be sized only to meet maximum daily demands, with storage tanks providing water
during instantaneous peak demands.
Emergency situations. The extent to which emergency storage is needed in excess of
fire storage depends on the reliability of the supply system.
For fire: a volume to provide water to two fire hydrants each of 4-5 l/s for about 2 h
(even 10 for big city). This is a volume of about 60-70 m3

Overall:
Volume to provide water to the users + volume for emergency situation (fire,)

Hourly demand/average daily use

TANK: DIMENSION ANALYSYS

time

dV
Q0 Qt
dt

Q dt Q(t )dt V (t ) V (0) V (t )

t

V (T ) 0

TANK: COLLOCATION in respect to the distribution network

A) high water demand from the tank
B) low water demand from the tank

Headboard tank

A) no water demand by the network

B) low water demand by the network
C) high water demand by the network

Extremity tank

Pressure line usually 5m above the highest house/palace, but anyway 20-25m and 70m
(to avoid the damaging of household appliance)

TANK: Headboard tank

Supply
from the
top
Spillway

Bottom
outlet
Catching

Supply
from below
from the
water spring

To the
network
To the drainage system

Supply
from the
top

Spillway
Catching

Bottom
outlet

Supply
from below
Work room
from the
water spring

To the
network
To the drainage system

TANK: Extremity tank

Supply
from the
top

To the
network

Spillway

Bottom
outlet

Supply
from
below
from the water
spring

Catching

To the drainage
system

Supply
from the
top

Spillway
Catching

Bottom
outlet

Work room

To the
network

from the water

spring

To the drainage system

TANK: COLLOCATION in respect to the ground elevation

underground

on the ground with

piezometric turret

in cave

on the ground
with autoclave

on the ground

pensile

TANK: COLLOCATION in respect to the ground elevation

Serramanna
Pontino area

Padova (ancient tank)

THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK SYSTEM

Sized for the hourly peak flow rate

Three possible network scheme:

trunk/section/pipe
(same characteristics)

node

BRANCHES

LOOP

MIXED (BRANCHES + LOOP)

This is the best option among the three for water distribution
system because we can provide water to most of the users even
when there are interruptions or breaks of a trunk

THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK SYSTEM

Problem for loop system: to determine the direction and the
quantity of Q.
To solve the problem a direction of flow in each pipe and a Hp:
- the supply of Q is assumed to be concentrated in
direction of flow in the loop have to be hypnotized.
the nodes (and not distributed along the pipe).
Eg.: P = rate flow supplied continuously, then P/2
is assumed to be supplied at the nodes
Qin

P/2
P/2
- geometrical properties (length, diameter) and
the roughness of the pipes are known.
- the supplied Q in each node is known.
- the pressure in node 1 is known.

It is always true that:

1)
2)

in

n 1, N 1

Qn

N num. of nodes

Mass balance equation

hm i J i ,m Li ,m 0

i pipes in the loop m

m 1, M

i ,m

Qi ,m Qi ,m 0

L
2 g A2 D

or

Qout

L
2 4/3
K S A RH

m 1, M

M num. of loops

the total loss of energy along a loop is zero

J

(Q / A) 2
D

2g

fully developed
turbulent flow

THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK SYSTEM

1) BALANCE OF THE PRESSURE
Sign convention:
- Q that enters the node (inflow) is negative
- Q that leaves the node (outflow) is positive
- h in a pipe is positive if the supposed Q
direction is the same than the flow direction
supposed for the loop and vice-versa

module to preserve the sign. If h>0, the

direction of flow hypnotized for Q is
correct and viceversa

Eg:

i=index for the pipe in the loop.

m = index for the loop.
M=number of loops m 1, M

1 Q1 Q1 5 Q5 Q5 6 Q6 Q6 0

Loss of E in two loops

h Q Q

h
i

i ,m

i i ,m Qi ,m Qi ,m 0

2 Q2 Q2 3 Q3 Q3 4 Q4 Q4 6 Q6 Q6 0
Q1 Q5 Q1
Q1 Q2 Q6 Q2
Q2 Q3 Q3 Q6
Q3 Q4 Q4

(M-1 equations because the Mth

equation would be linear combination
of the others (M-1) equations)

Mass balance
(n-1 equations because the nth
equation would be linear combination
of the others (n-1) equations)

THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK SYSTEM

Iterations are necessary: the coefficient matrix depends from the unknowns

Q0

arbitraril y chosen

A0 A Q 0
A0Q1 B

Am1 A Q m1 Q m2 2
Q m Q m1 Q m

Am1Q m B
condition for stopping

Or otherwise the application of the Cross method

THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK SYSTEM

2) BALANCE OF THE RATE FLOW

Qi Ki H i Ki ( H j H k )
Sign convention: the rate
flow is positive if it flows
from j to k, being k>j

Example for node 2:

Qij
1 1 H j
Q Ki 1 1 H

k
ik
index i (first index): pipe index
Index j or k (second index): node index

Sign convention: the rate flow is positive if it flows from j to k, being k>j
Q12 Q22 Q25 Q2 0

Sign convention:
Q12 K1 H1 H 2
- Q that enters the node

(inflow) is negative
Q22 K 2 H 2 H 3
- Q that leaves the node
Q25 K 6 H 2 H 5
(outflow) is positive

K1H1 K1 K 2 K 6 H 2 K 2 H 3 K 6 H 5 Q2

THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK SYSTEM

2) BALANCE OF THE RATE FLOW

The coefficient matrix can be determined from the following table:

Pipe i

Upstream
node j

Downstream
node k

-K2
-

K2+K3+K7 -K3

because it is 2 3 (j,k)
All K positive in the column i of the matrix

-K7

THE DISTRIBUTION NETWORK SYSTEM

Since the pressure is assigned and know in 1 the system has to be modified like:

Since it is K=K(H), the system can be solved by applying a Newton-Raphson method