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Epanet and Development A Progressive 44 Exercise Workbook PDF
Epanet and Development A Progressive 44 Exercise Workbook PDF
jcbobeda@gmail.com
Epanet and Development
A progressive 44 exercise workbook
Santiago Arnalich
Epanet and Development
ISBN: 978-84-612-6088-1
All rights reserved. You can photocopy this manual for your own personal use if you are unable
to purchase it due to your economic situation. Otherwise, consider buying a copy to support
these initiatives.
If you would like to use part of the contents of this book, contact us at:
publicaciones@arnalich.com.
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this book has been obtained from credible and internationally respected
sources. However, neither Arnalich - Water and Habitat nor the author can guarantee the precision of the information
published here and are not responsible for any errors, omissions, or damage caused by the use of this information. It
is understood that the information published herein is without a specific purpose and under no circumstances intends
to provide professional engineering services. If these services are required, the assistance of a qualified professional
is necessary.
Table of contents
2. Taking a seat 9
4. Demand 69
5. Quality 115
6. Scenarios 131
7. Economics 169
Often, a few hours of trial and error can save you a few minutes of
reading manuals.
(Anonymous)
2 Epanet and Development. A progressive 44 exercise workbook
● This manual has been designed for use in Development Cooperation projects. The
particular context means that many components and procedures that are so
necessary in projects for rich countries make no sense.
● Many exercises have been included that are not strictly Epanet exercises. This is
because it is very easy to waste time with Epanet calculating things that do not
make a lot of sense and which can put the projects in danger. Epanet works with
the data that we give it and it is very important to be clear how it has been obtained.
● This manual has been created for use in development projects and therefore some
procedures will not be suitable for use in developed countries.
● There are not many people who work in development full-time for a long period,
and as such this is not intended to be a cutting edge manual, but one that you can
return to when you need it.
It has online content. You can download the items needed in each exercise
or get it all at www.arnalich.com/dwnl/epaxen/epaxenall.zip
3. It has warnings:
4. It has routes that look like this: “>Project/ Defaults”. The forward slash
indicates that there is a jump in the menu, so that this route is equivalent to
selecting “Project” in the general menu and “Defaults ” in the drop-down menu:
Download necessary. In order to carry out the work in hand you will
need to download the file indicated.
Invitation to save the file with the suggested name. This will be used
later in another exercise.
6. The printed copies are black and white. Unfortunately color comes at a
ridiculous price. You can see graphics in color by going to our website and
clicking on “Read online>” next to the book title at:
www.arnalich.com/en/books.html
Epanet in English and its manual can be downloaded free of charge from the US EPA
website:
www.epa.gov/nrmrl/wswrd/dw/epanet.html#downloads
Alternatively, if this link fails or changes in the future, you can use a search engine to
find an updated version. As a last resource, a copy of the program is available at:
www.epanet.es/descargas/EN2setup.exe
Installing Epanet
Once you have downloaded the program, you will find a similar icon to this in the folder
of your computer where it was downloaded.
2. Press “next” in all the dialogues that follow. The second dialogue allows you to
select where you want it to be installed.
3. The installation finishes quickly. If you don’t change anything you will find your
program in "C:\Program Files\EPANET2\Epanet2w.exe".
4. Press start and follow the route shown in the image, >All programs/ EPANET
2.0/ EPANET 2.0. If you can’t find it, type Epanet in the search box (marked
with an asterisk in the image).
To work with Epanet you will have to do some very simple calculations by hand.
Although they are simple, many of them are prone to errors and very treacherous like,
for example, double negatives or how many days there are between 2 dates.
If you have the discipline to stick to the units you will discover many of these errors
before they affect your emotional stability. For example, look at these two calculations
using the same conversion of units:
m3 m3 3600s 14 * 3600 3 3 1 l
A. 14 m3/h = 14 * * = * m *m * *
h 1000l 1h 1000 h*h s
¡¿ l*m6/ h2*s?! If, like me, you don’t know this unit of flow, something went wrong.
3 m 3 1000l 1h 14 * 1000 m 3 h l
B. 14 m /h = 14 * * = * * * = 3,88 l/s
h m3 3600s 3600 m3 h s
NOTE: To multiply by 1h/3,600s is the same as multiplying by 1/1, given that 1 hour and 3,600
seconds are the same thing. If it is easier for you, you can think of it as "there is 1 hour in every
3,600 seconds". The result is a change of units.
The first time that you open Epanet you will find a screen similar to this:
The upper horizontal menu lends itself to quick familiarization, nevertheless the
majority of options and commands are in the Browser. The Browser is the front door to
all the program data and, furthermore, allows you to configure calculation options and
ways of representing the results.
We will see the use of the Browser as we progress. Meanwhile, do not forget that this
is the main gateway of communication with Epanet.
The majority of functions that have an annoying tendency to hide are in the
tab “Data” of the Browser. Look for them there first!
Before starting you should make sure that Epanet is using the correct units. When
selecting LPS, the units are established as follows:
• Flow: liters/second.
• Pressure: column meters of water, being 10 meters to 1 bar or kg/cm2.
• Diameter: millimeters.
• Length: meters.
• Elevation: meters.
• Dimensions: meters.
For convenient calculations use the Hazen-Williams formula with coefficients of friction
between 100 and 150.
In contrast, the plastic pipes (PVC and HDPE) are named by their external diameter.
The internal diameter is the external one minus the thickness of the wall. At the
moment of modeling them you should use this internal diameter. To complicate things
even more, the specifications between manufacturers can vary. In practice, it is
accepted that approximate whole numbers are used; given the very small differences
involved it simplifies the task enormously and avoids errors. You can use this table for
an approximate correspondence between the nominal diameters (ND) or how pipe are
commercially named and internal diameters (ID):
This book will name pipes after their commercial name (outside diameter in
plastic pipes) to make things easier to follow and to help you gain an
intuitive idea of the behavior of different pipe sizes. But DO remember to
use the internal diameters of the pipes to be installed when facing a
real case.
3. The screen below will open. Follow the instructions until you have finished the
exercise. Have patience when you get stuck
The Help files are not visible in Windows Vista and above systems because
the help program winhlp32.exe that came with them was deprecated. This
may be solved in the future, meanwhile to access the help files, you can try
to download the winhlp32.exe program from the windows website or install
(at your own risk) the update for your system.
There are few mistakes more disastrous and embarrassing yet easy to
prevent than to think that the length of the piping is in meters when Epanet
is taking them as feet, the diameter in inches when they are in millimeters
and so on. Networks calculated in certain units and interpreted in others
have little possibility of functioning. Follow this ritual each time you start a
new project like a pilot’s check list before take-off.
1. With Epanet started, open the configuration dialogue with the route >Project
/Defaults.
4. You can set default values for different properties in the Properties' tab. A
diameter value of 100 mm, will make any new pipe you draw 100 mm. As most
of the pipes you will work with will be plastic, set the roughness value to 140 (it
will be explained soon)
5. Check the box Save as defaults for all new projects and click OK.
Repeat this ritual for each new Project, and now and then when you are already in a
project to confirm that all is OK, and it will save you many headaches.
1. Start Epanet. If you already have it open, close and re-start to start fresh.
2. You are starting a new project. Follow the ritual described in exercise 2, to
appropriately configure your new project.
3. Draw the network in the size that you want with the
drawing icons as you did in the introductory tutorial:
Start with the nodes, the points, and later join them with the
pipes. Draw all the vertical pipes first and then the horizontals.
Your network should look like this:
clicked on the drawing. These are the two alternatives to open the Properties
dialogue for the pipe in question.
8. Using the Browser, change the diameter and length of the remaining pipes.
9. Choose the method that you want to change the elevation of the nodes, either
via the Browser or by double clicking on the node itself to open the Properties
dialogue for the node.
10. Verify that you have entered all the values and that these are correct. Select
the Query icon in the upper horizontal bar:
11. In the box that opens construct the sentence: Find nodes with elevation equal
to 23. If there is an error, the junction will not appear highlighted in red. In the
example below, the right lower node does not have an elevation equal to 23 m.
It is exactly the same exercise as before, but this time we are going to do it in a much
quicker way.
To gain a lot of time and to avoid errors, try to use the defaults as much as
possible. If all the pipes are of PVC and new, introduce the roughness, 140,
at the start to avoid having to modify them later one by one. If the network
has elements that are repeated, as in this exercise, take advantage and
introduce length; if the majority of pipes are 100 mm diameter, introduce this
diameter and so on. Keep in mind that some networks can have thousands
of nodes and thousands of pipes.
If you are a normal mortal, you will probably have put a lot of effort into making sure all
the lines were perfectly horizontal or vertical and will have tried to align the nodes.
This is a huge waste of time with Epanet. Epanet interprets your drawing as
if it was a sketch, never as a plan of construction to scale. Effectively, these
two sketches represent exactly the same network:
6. Confirm that in spite of the fact that the two pipes that unite the node have
gone astray and are clearly longer than the others, for Epanet they all measure
the same. Use Query.
Ascertain what diameter of pipe you would need so that this simple
system supplies water with 1 bar (10 meters of water column). The
reservoir is at 20 m, the pipe has a diameter of 75
mm and 100 m of length and the elevation of the
node is 0 m. The demand at this point is 0.2 l/s, the
equivalent of a normal tap.
1. Start Epanet and again carry out the configuration ritual for a new project, but
don’t close the Defaults box because we are going to introduce an error.
Pay attention to this exercise. Using coefficients of friction from one formula
with another, is a very frequent mistake and difficult to find for those that are
new to Epanet. It is not dangerous, because the results that it leaves are
absurd. You will notice it very quickly.
5. Calculate the network by pressing the flash icon in the horizontal bar:
6. Press OK in the dialogue that appears, and don’t be intimidated by its content.
In a short time you will ask yourself why Epanet forces you to accept this box
each one of the umpteen times that you try to optimize a network.
7. The warning message that appears indicates that there are "Negative
Pressures at 0:00:00 hours". This is the same as saying that water is not
arriving at the point of consumption.
Stop to think for a moment. In your moderate experience, do you believe that a
pipeline of only 100 m with the approximate diameter of a roll of toilet paper is
not capable of feeding a single tap from a tank 20 m above? How big is the
pipe that feeds your shower? You can already see that something has gone
wrong.
8. Enlarge the diameter of the pipe to 200 mm and re-calculate. Again you will
have error messages. Go to the Map tab of the Browser and select pressure in
the nodes drop-down menu to get a diagram similar to this:
9. Repeat the process again, but this time with 1,000 mm, no less than 1m
diameter. Once again the same error message will appear. The water doesn’t
arrive at the tap!
10. Carry on increasing the diameter of the pipe. Towards 1.25 m diameter, it
begins to obtain pressures close to 10 meters:
Before deciding a design is acceptable, carry out the following verification: "Find links
with Roughness below 100" with Query to locate pipes with erroneous coefficients. The
result of such a search is shown below:
The area shown inside the dotted line has been drawn with the coefficients of friction
corresponding to another formula by mistake (they are shown in red in the program).
Before continuing with the examples, it is a good time to learn a custom that will save
your eyesight and avoid a few headaches. Perhaps you could add it to the start up
ritual.
1. Right click anywhere inside the Network Map screen. Select Options.
2. In the menu that appears, select Background and choose the black option:
The screen will turn black, thus avoiding radiation. In this manual, for printing
reasons, we will carry on showing a white background.
3. Try changing the rest of the available options until you find the best
combination for you. If you have eyesight problems or bad aim when clicking
this thickened version may interest you:
1. Open Help: >Help /Help topics. Remember that you may have problems with
the help files if you are using Microsoft Vista or later (see Chapter 1).
Distances:
Spring-1 800 m
1-2 400 m
2-3 300 m
3-4 250 m
3-6 500 m
5-Tee 200 m
1. Configure the defaults in the way that will save you most work.
Epanet will allow you to draw the network in any way you like. But back to
the real world, if your design does not respect private zones, military
buildings, rugged landscape, etc., you will not have great success beyond
your computer screen. You may find all sorts of problematic situations, for
example, this mujahedeen cemetery in Afghanistan had to be crossed.
5. Introduce the data for elevations, lengths, demands and frictions where there
are no default values (from the last exercise you will have deduced that PVC
roughness ranges between 140 and 150).
8. Change the scale of the legend to see the results more clearly. To open the
dialogue that permits you to do this, right click on the legend. Double clicking
(left click) will make the legend disappear. To see it again >View /Legends
/Node.
In this legend, for example, the additional yellow scale has been ignored:
When we have changed the legend the diagram of the screen is brought up to date:
:
This system gives you all the correct values of pressure. But remember that
the work is not finished yet; first you must carry out an optimization. Verify
that if you change the pipe that runs from the spring to fountain 1 to one
with a diameter of 1 km (1.000.000 mm), the system continues to come out
correct in spite of the fact that it is complete nonsense. Imagine how much
a pipe of 1 km of diameter would cost? Would it even be buildable?
9. You must therefore reduce the diameter of the pipes to the minimum that
maintains the pressure in all the points above 10 m. The first changes, by way
of example, are described in the following points, but before this there is an
important notice on the philosophy:
The most logical is to start with the zones closest to the source of water. If
you begin with those farthest away, you will see that the changes that you
later make to the pipe diameter near the source will alter the results of those
you had so carefully optimized previously. This will result in a never ending
spiral of changes.
10. Change the diameter of the pipe from the spring to fountain 1 to 75 mm and
press to calculate. Fountain 1, with 8,26 m 1 of pressure does not reach the 10
m minimum required.
11. Change the diameter to 100 mm. With 10.33 m of pressure, it can be taken as
correct.
Notice that we have not used diameters of a type 92,319 mm, which would leave
the pressure at point 1 at exactly 10 m. Do not waste time trying adjustments
such as these and use only internal diameters of pipes that you can actually buy:
25, 40, 63, 75, 100, 125, 150, 200, 250, 300…
Remember that when you order the pipes, the diameter obtained from Epanet is the
internal diameter. That is to say that for an internal diameter of 79 mm in a HPDE pipe,
you should request 90 mm, as the 11 mm of difference corresponds to the thickness of
the walls. This data is provided by manufacturers or you can use the generic one
provided at the beginning of the Chapter.
1
Do not worry if the values that you obtain are not exactly the same as those in this book. Slight variations
in the introduction of data can cause small differences that barely change anything.
12. If the pipe that comes out of the spring is now 100 mm, it is more than likely
that all the other pipes will also be 100 mm or smaller, otherwise, we would be
creating a bottleneck at the source and this is only done in very special cases.
13. Edit all the pipes at the same time to change them to 100 mm diameter. The
fastest way to do this is editing by group, >Edit / Select all. Then, >Edit / Group
Edit opens a dialogue that you would complete it like this:
14. Carry on reducing the diameter of the pipes until you obtain the optimum
system. There is no unique solution but various possibilities.
For simplicity, we have assumed that the best design is the one that has the
smallest diameter pipes and therefore the lowest cost. However, there are
many other considerations to keep in mind, for example: Is there a danger
that they will block? Does it allow for future extension? Look at Chapter 7 of
the theory book to see some criteria.
The objects
Each icon represents a future object of the network with clearly defined properties that
you will need to know.
You can consult section 3.1 of the Epanet Users Manual or “Epanet’s main
objects” section in Chapter 2 of the theory book.
If do not you have a map of the area for the planned network but instead a
topographical study, you will have to draw a sketch without scale with Automatic
Length OFF and manually specify the lengths of everything.
Subtracting coordinates
One of the fastest ways of determining the area inside a map is to subtract the
coordinates of two corners. This is especially useful for maps made by GPS or to
determine the scale of existing maps when in doubt. Use UTM coordinates for
convenience. Consider these two examples of UTM coordinates:
You can ignore the first part, 32S. The second part is the horizontal coordinate
measured in meters from a point, and the next is the vertical one. To find out the
distance between the points, you can subtract, arguing as follows: The point A is at
713,000 m from a point of reference (which doesn’t interest us) and B is at 714,000
meters. Therefore the horizontal distance between them is 714,000 -713,000 = 1,000
m.
Topographic studies
Even if you have a superb map, you will need to carry out a topographical survey of the
areas to know the elevation with precision. In the exercises you will learn to interpret
these studies. The way to construct them is very simple. A sight is placed on the
horizontal between two calibrated rulers. When looking across it, the horizontal plane
of vision will cut each rule at a specific height. The difference between these points on
the rulers will be the variation in the height of the land. By measuring the distance with
a tape measure, we can work out the slope.
Editing images
In this chapter you will need to modify images. If this presents no problems, use the
image editing program that you prefer.
If this is not the case, download for free the Paint.net program. We will be
using it to follow the instructions on how to modify images:
www.getpaint.net/download.html
3. Besides the points of distribution, locate other points that will be key in the
design phase, for example, intermediate high points.
5. There are six key points, five corresponding to the letters and the intermediate
high point of chainage 345 (labeled P345). The second high point, chainage
805 m, coincides with D, so there is no need for an additional node. The
distances between the points A, P345, B, C, D, and E, are obtained by
subtracting their chainage.
The lengths are shown in the diagram, after verifying that its partial sums
correspond to the accumulated length of E:
345+100+330+30+160 = 965 m
7. Introduce the demand at point E, make sure that the roughness corresponds to
galvanized iron (120) pipes and calculate the network. Modify the legend so as
to see the pressure values clearly:
If all has gone well the simulation will be validated. Once again we must see if
we can reduce the pipe diameters. Instead of using trial and error as in the
preceding exercises, there is a way of detecting at a glance which pipes are
too large.
Just like when tightening the end of a hose the water accelerates, when
placing pipes with diameters that are too large the water decelerates and will
have a lower flow speed. This is due to the Continuity Equation that
establishes that flow is constant throughout different sections of a pipe:
The normal range of velocities in a pipe at peak time is from 0 to 2 m/s for
water without sediment. Looking at which pipes have lower velocities tells us
where to begin to make changes. Remember to always start at the point
closest to the source of water.
8. >Browser /Map /Links /Velocity. In the Nodes menu, you could select whatever
you want to see simultaneously in the diagram, for example, pressure.
Look for low speed values. For example, the shown value of 0.16 m/s is one of
them. Modify the diameter of the first pipe until you obtain a velocity of 0.5 m/s
or greater.
9. Observe what has happened to the pressures after changing the diameter of
the first pipe to 100 mm. Note that points P345 and E cannot get to 10 m of
pressure due to the topography; Point P345 has an elevation of 33 m, only 7
less than the reservoir, and E 32 m, 8 m less than A. At these points we must
try to obtain all the pressure that we can without making the network
excessively costly. We can accept the minimum pressure in these two points is
6 m.
10. The modification of the first pipe has reduced all the water pressures
downstream too much. Try increasing the diameter to 125 mm.
The pressures are now close to the minimum pressure of 10 m, the pipe is
correctly sized. Note that this pipe now has a velocity of 0.41 m/s.
11. Repeat the process for the rest of the pipes until you find an acceptable
solution.
12. One possibility is this, where all the pipes are of 125 mm diameter:
1. Open the file Exercise10.net if you closed it after the previous exercise.
2. Note that the data for the main branch is exactly the same. It is only a matter of
adding the second branch. Point C, which is common to both branches and
has the same elevation, is the point of union. Decide which points you need to
include as nodes in the new branch. Point F has been included to show the
change in direction of the pipe although you have learned in the tutorial other
ways of doing it.
Keep in mind that this is a very simplified topographical study, a real study
can have hundreds or thousands of points, and to represent each one of
them can be a Herculean yet not very useful task.
3. Introduce the data of the new junctions, the elevations and the demand (24 m,
33 m and 7 l/s). Make sure that you introduce the demand data in the
parameter Base Demand. It is easy to be mistaken and to put it in Demand
Pattern. In that case, Epanet would show the following notice:
4. Calculate the network. As you optimized the last exercise for only one
consumer, you will now have negative pressures. To see which pipes you
need to enlarge, look at the velocity in >Browser /Map /Links /Velocity.
The common pipes, the first 3, now have to transport more than double the
water and the pressure suffers. Try enlarging the diameter of these first.
5. Increase their diameter to 200 mm and see what happens with the pressure.
Remember that the three nodes marked on the table cannot have greater
pressure that 10 m due to their elevation:
The velocity of the water in the pipes of the new branch is only 0.22 m/s. Note
what happens to the pressure at point G if its size is reduced.
With a loss of only 0.04 bars, the pipes can be changed to 150 mm diameter.
In HDPE, for example, the 200 mm pipes cost 22.4 €/m and those of 150 mm
15.4 €/m. The saving made by changing the pipes would be 345 m * 7 €/m =
2,415 €.
1. The diagram for this exercise is very simple, but at the time of deciding the
relevant points, take this tip into account:
In the event that the network is uneven between points over 40 meters
or there will be pumps, it is necessary to place a junction in the low
points to assure that the pressure that the pipes bear is inside the
working margins of the pipe. Don’t trust the pipe specifications of
certain manufacturers.
2. This system will have an initial point A, a final point B and an intermediate
point b' of minimal elevation. At times, it is better visually to make a plan as if in
lateral view to display the topography, as in this case:
3. Introduce the data. The roughness of the HDPE, 140, the elevations 116 m, 11
m and 86 m, and the lengths 438 m and 543 m, verifying that its sum is in fact
981 m. Finally, enter the demand of B, 2 l/s.
4. Calculate the system and modify the keys keeping in mind that the pressure in
the point of distribution should be between 1 and 3 bars. You will arrive at a
point in which the pressure in junction B is smaller than 3 bars. However, the
velocity of the water is very low. Reducing the pressure at point B, saves in
pipes and reduces the pressure at point b'.
It is very important that water supply systems function at the smallest possible
pressures over and above the design range. When the systems carry a lot of
pressure the leaks are greater and pipe break more often.
5. In this case, there is little room to maneuver because of the topography. The
strategy to follow is to reduce the diameter of the downpipe more than that of
the ascending pipe to diminish the pressure at point b'.
A possible solution to the system is presented further on. In it, the downpipe
has a diameter of 50 mm. Always consider the risk of pipes becoming
blocked when sizing and what precautions you can take. For example,
having valves every 300m can help detect the section affected by a block.
With regards to the working pressure of the pipe, this should be taken during periods of
very low consumption. In the peak times, the network pressure decreases and
pressure may be greatly underestimated.
6. Change the demand at point B to 0 l/s and take a reading of the pressure at
point b’. The result is 105 meters or 10.5 bars.
When the time comes to order the pipes, PN 10 (10 bars) would not be
sufficient and you would have to take the next one up, PN 16 (16 bars).
Not all the pipes need to be PN10, only the reaches that are over 80 m below
the water tank, thus exceeding the working pressure of the pipe (80% of 10
bar).
To carry out this exercise you need to download the image 12.bmp from:
www.arnalich.com/dwnl/epaxen/12.zip.
Epanet works with background images with the extension “.bmp". These
images barely have any compression, resulting in images of large memory
size. Compare the size in bmp (572 Kb) with that of the same image in jpg
(45 Kb). To avoid the computer running too slow, try not to use images of
more than 4 or 5 Mb.
Another big objection to using very large images is that with Epanet you can
always expand the view but you can’t reduce it. With a too large image, you
will have an expanded view whether you want it or not.
2. Load the background image: >View /Backdrop /Load. Select the image 12.bmp
from the folder in which it was extracted from the compressed zip file. This
loads a background image, but its dimensions are not specified.
3. To establish the dimensions, >View /Dimensions. One corner will be (0.0) and
the other corner (1033, 625). Select meters as unit.
4. A simple way to verify that all has gone well is to place the cursor in the upper
right corner of the image and to see if the coordinates that Epanet displays in
the lower horizontal bar coincide with the calibration values. To move the
image use the Pan button:
5. To draw pipes in the Auto-Length mode, you should activate it by right clicking
in the area Auto-Length Off (lower left corner of Epanet) and accept Auto-
Length On.
9. A search for pipes with a default value will detail all those that were not drawn
with the Auto Length mode activated, as it is highly improbable that you have
drawn a pipe that measures exactly 100 m.
To do this exercise you will need to download the zip file containing
image 13.jpg: www.arnalich.com/dwnl/epaxen/13.zip
2. Open the image with Paint.net and save it as 13.bmp so that Epanet can
recognize it. To select the program with which to open the file, right click on the
image and >Open with /Paint.NET:
3. Once opened, >File /Save as. Below the file name you have the possibility to
choose in which format to save it. Click the lower box and choose .bmp (also
called Bitmap or Map of bits) from the dropdown menu that appears:
5. Establish its dimensions, >View /Dimensions. Since the image is square with
four sideways grids of 1km each, the total dimension is 4000 x 4000:
6. The next step is to find your way in the image, locating the high points where
the tank can go, the low ones, to allow for the water runoff from the taps, etc.
7. In the lower left corner there is a rectangle that resembles a football pitch. It
coincides with the highest point. This would be the ideal place to locate the
tank as it has good access and plenty of free space around to set up
equipment, storage of material, etc.
8. Look for a pathway for the pipes so that there are neither high nor low points.
Brighten up the image and save it in the same folder with the name 13faded.bmp. To
change from one to another, simply load one or the other. When you do not want the
background image select Unload in the same menu.
9. Activate Auto-length and draw the path through. For example, the one shown
below is a possibility. From the 35 m at the reservoir, it goes down abruptly
until reaching the 25 m contour line. The idea is to pressurize the system
quickly. Once it touches the 25 m contour line it carries on. It deviates from the
main North-South direction, so as to gently descend to the 20 m contour. It
continues again along this contour and finally descends to 15 m.
10. Work out an approximation of the elevations of the junctions using the contour
lines.
11. Once the plan is drawn and you have ascertained the elevations, the
background image may hinder the visualization of the results. To unload it,
>View /Backdrop /Unload.
12. Knowing that a normal tap has a flow of 0.2 l/s, a distribution ramp of 6 taps
will have a total flow of 1.2 l/s. Note that we have not drawn the 6 taps or the
structure of the ramp as in the image, but we have simplified it so that the total
consumption will be exact. This process is called skeletonization and we will
see it later on.
Take note also of the hand washing into the bucket that takes place whilst
holding the tap open. These self-closing taps of low sanitary standard continue
to be very popular in emergencies. Although they are outside the purpose of
this manual, always have in mind these details in the commencement of a
water supply system design.
14. See if the system has dangerous pressures in the low consumption periods
and then find out the diameter of each pipe. One possible solution to the
problem is this:
Save this exercise as 13.net. We will use it later to place a pump from the
river to the tank in the hill and to see why a tank is modeled into the
summit of a hill like a reservoir.
You have an aerial photo of the area where the network is going to
be built but you don’t have the dimensions specified. With the help
of a GPS you have determined the position of two points where the
streets intersect that you thought you would be able to recognize
easily both in the aerial photo and on the land. The coordinates of
these two points are:
A 10 S 0559741 4283782
B 10 S 0564821 4281174
The sign of the distance does not have any practical importance. This image
corresponds with 5080 meters in the horizontal (East-West) and 2608 in the
vertical (North-South).
5. Trim pressing the crop icon and save the image as BMP:
6. Load the background image, >View /Backdrop /Load and dimension it using
these distances. Verify that all this is correct by placing the cursor in the right
upper corner and reading the coordinates in the lower bar.
To carry out this exercise you need to download and install the free
program Google Earth. http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html
The navigation is carried out in this control board in the top right corner. These controls
remain partially transparent unless the mouse is over them. In the case where you
want to use the image as background, pay attention to always stay vertical.
Notwithstanding, by tilting the view you can obtain three-dimensional images that can
help you to decide pathways for the pipes.
3. Approach Mogadishu until you have a view of the city and locate the airport. It
is in the southwest.
4. When the two extremes of the airport occupy almost all the screen, do a
screen capture. This is done by pressing the "Print screen" key, usually found
in the upper right corner of the keyboard.. Once you have done this, you will
have copied the screen.
5. Open Paint.NET and press Ctrl and v simultaneously. The image will appear in
the program.
7. Repeat in the process near the right upper corner to obtain the second
coordinate. You will have two coordinates like these:
8. Crop the image using the points that you have taken.
9. Load the image and enter the values in the Dimensions dialogue as in the
previous exercises.
The quantity and resolution of the available images in Google Earth grows rapidly.
Some years ago there were barely images of large cities; the current coverage is pretty
good.
Consult the sections "Bread crumb maps and GPS points", “Net2epa" and
"Importing maps from AutoCAD" of the section "Drawing the network",
Chapter 3 of the theory book to discover other, less common ways of using
maps.
If you can get a version of Google Earth Pro, which is free for non-profits, then you can
export the satellite images in high resolution in the save menu.
Chapter 4 of the theory book deals with this topic in detail. To understand the
nuances, it is important that you read it all.
Multipliers
The way to take into account these daily variations is to use numbers that multiply to
give an average demand for the day, the multipliers. The philosophy is very simple, if
the daily average is 10 l/s, and at 16:00 hours 20 l/s is consumed, the multiplier is 2.
Thus, Epanet only has to apply the multipliers for each hour to express the change in
demand over time. To calculate the multipliers:
Design Period
If current data were used to design a network it would become obsolete before the
system is even built. To make sure this does not happen, try to ascertain what the
situation will be after a specific number of years called the design period. How many
actual years to consider is an arbitrary decision. Normally a 30 year period is used, in
spite of the fact that the minimum life of PVC, for example, is 50 years. Projecting
beyond 30 years increases the uncertainty and puts the initial investment in doubt.
With 30 years, sufficient time is given to the population so that they can plan and
organize any modifications that they are going to need. Nonetheless, 30 years is not a
mathematical period.
In any case, try to design networks so that they can be easily enlarged. In
various parts of the theory book you can learn how.
Projection formulas
Pf , Future Population
Arithmetic:
P0 , Actual Population
Geometric i , rate of growth in %
t , time in years
Exponential e , Number e, (e=2,718...)
The geometric projection has a greater field of application. The arithmetic one is not
recommended for populations of more than 20,000 people.
A pessimistic outlook
The networks are designed for the worst case scenario: the busiest time of the day
during the busiest day of the week of the less favorable month with the biggest
population served (30 years out). It is assumed that if it is capable of functioning at the
moment of greatest demand, it will do so without problems the rest of the time. The
way to represent this mathematically is by multiplying the coefficients:
If the average demand is 10 l/s, in the worst moment of the network it will consume:
When you don’t have any data, use a global coefficient between 3.5 and 4.5,
depending on the size of the variations you expect.
Read the section “Small systems and other approaches to demand” of the
theory book to get insight on how to design emergency or public fountain
systems.
Demand allocation
Static Analysis
This is what we have been doing so far: considering only
the moment of maximum consumption.
The program is organized in multiple cells, identified by the letter of the column
and the number of the line, in the image the cell highlighted is C4.
3. To perform an operation, click on the cell where you want the result to appear
and introduce the symbol “=” followed by the operation. Multiply the two
previous cells by typing “=B2*C2” into cell. Alternatively, you can write = and
click on B2, type an operation and click on C2.
4. If you wanted to introduce the hours of the day in consecutive cells, it would be
very tiring. To speed up the process, write 1 and 2. Next select the two cells
where you have entered the numbers. Placing the cursor on the lower right
changes the form. Click here and drag. You will see that it produces
progressive numbers.
6. Place the cursor on the lower left corner of cell D2 and below in the same way
as described in point 4. Notice that the formula in cell D2 has been extended to
the lower cells updating in a way that cell D3 shows B3*C3, D4 shows B4*C4
and so on.
7. This, even though it seems very convenient, can in fact be a nuisance if you
want to multiply all the numbers of column C by B2 then you do not want the
formulas to be updated automatically. To avoid this, place $ signs in front of the
row, the column or both, according to what you want to block. In the proposed
case the formula in cell D4 would be “=$B$2*C2". The result using $ signs and
that not using them is very different:
8. To find the total of a column, place the cursor in the lower cell, and press the
symbol ∑. You can change the selection until you cover what you want to be
included.
With these 9 steps, you have what is strictly necessary for the following exercises. At
the beginning it will be confusing, but after five minutes of practice you will be more at
ease.
4. To get rid of errors, confirm that the sum of the multipliers is 24:
Take advantage of your previous work and make spreadsheets that you can
reuse. If at this stage and in the following exercises you organize a collection
of spreadsheets for reuse you will gain a lot of time and avoid errors.
The Pattern Editor will open. The following method will be very similar for
establishing other curves in Epanet, like pump curves, energy costs, etc. The two
remaining icons, shown inactive, serve to erase a curve and to publish it.
7. Enter the multipliers for each hour band. You can assume that the first multiplier is
that of 0:00, which seems more logical, or that of 1:00, as in Epanet. The result is
the same and for the calculation there is no difference.
Once finished, the editor will show a bar chart of the consumption distribution:
8. Save the consumption pattern as 15.pat. All too often, actual data cannot be
measured because the system does not exist yet, measurement equipment is not
available or does not work properly. Even in those situations, do not use the
Do not use durations of less than 3 days. Many tendencies are only revealed
after a number of cycles. For example, notice how this tank empties with time.
In an analysis of only 24 hours we would not have detected that this tank will
always be empty and that it makes no sense to build it.
To avoid having to look at many screens before seeing the peak time, it is a
good idea to configure Epanet so that it starts off showing you the results for
that hour. In the exercise and in the same menu, select 14:00:
11. Calculate the network. Now that you are looking at the daily peak consumption,
and not just average demand, the network that you so meticulously optimized no
longer manages to deliver water to all the points. Negative pressures have
appeared.
12. To visualize how behavior changes over time, press Forward in the Map tab
of the Browser. Use the controls like those of a video player.
13. For the moment forget the rest of the hours and concentrate on optimizing the
network for the peak time, 14:00. Before making the necessary changes to the
network so that once again they are in the correct range of pressures, add a pipe
starting at node B and ending at node F:
Don’t forget that to optimize a network, besides changing diameters, you can also add
or remove pipes, tanks, valves, etc.
In this case a new pipe has been added in a sketch that is not to scale. To
determine its length, you should organize a new topographical survey, find
the equipment and the people and wait for the results. Whenever you work
on a network in which modifications of this type are planned, try to work with
a background image that is to scale. If you do not have one, ask the
topographical team to produce something to scale that you can use or, if you
have access to a GPS, create it as is explained in the section "Bread crumb
Maps and GPS points" of the section "Drawing the network", Chapter 3 of
the theory book.
14. Take the length of the new pipe as 428 m and continue making changes to the
network until 14:00h when the pressure is greater than 5 m (remember that the
difference of elevation at the source of water does not allow us to achieve the
normal value of 10 m).
16. Select >Browser / Map / Nodes / Age. Press Forward in the Browser and observe
how the water in the network ages with time. At the end of the low consumption
period, 7 AM, the greater periods are recorded:
Save the file as 16.net without closing it, it will be used in the next
exercise.
1. Construct the consumption pattern of the factory, as per the previous exercise.
The result will come out something like this:
The way to construct it is as follows: if between 12:00 and 16:00 there are 4
hours and 20% is consumed, the consumption of each hour is 5% of the total.
Between 16:00 and 18:00 there are two hours of which 50% of the
consumption is distributed, that is 25% each hour. 5% of 11,000 liters (11 m3)
is equivalent to: 11,000 * 0.05 = 550 liters.
These calculations, despite being simple, are very prone to error like the
double negatives or the days that there are between two dates. It is very
good practice to do a verification. In the previous table, there are two
marked in red that are very simple to do: the sum of the multipliers is 24
and the total of the liters that arrive each hour is 11,000. Another very silly
verification is that if 5% is 1.2, 5 times more (25%) will be 1.2 * 5 = 6. Be
advised!
3. Click on node E to add the new demand. This node will have consumption
according to pattern 1 of 5 l/s and the consumption of the factory, according to
pattern 2, of 0.127 l/s. In the properties of node E, press Demand Categories
and introduce both:
4. Calculate the network and answer the question asked at the beginning of the
exercise. Remember that you have to look at all the times. If it turns out to be
inconvenient, deactivate the time of the results starting at 14:00.
No, it is not necessary to enlarge it. The peak time, is still at 14:00, and both
pressures are above 5 m which we established was the minimum.
The refugee camp at Anagret has long queues to collect water and
the leaders established a rotation system for the distribution so
that some areas can be supplied in the mornings and others in the
afternoons. After 3 years, the departure of the refugees is not
foreseen in the near future, and it has been decided to enlarge the
production of water and the system of distribution. Establish a
pattern of consumption on which to calculate the system of
distribution.
In this case, there is neither data nor a real possibility to measure it. The population is
accustomed to receiving water at certain times. Nevertheless, once they eliminate the
restrictions, they will begin to readjust to their normal pattern.
The average flow for each hour would be 100 liters / 24 = 4.16.
Save the pattern with the name generic.pat. To save it, go to Patterns in
the Browser and select the Save option.
Read the section “When there is no data” in Chapter 3 of the theory book to
learn other ways to overcome lack of data.
Taking an allowance of 30 liters per person, 20 per cow and 5 per sheep:
2. Build the patterns. In the case of the animals, and supposing that the total
consumption is based on 5 homogeneous hours:
Given the lack of data on the population and such a small settlement where
most of the consumers are animals, use the generic pattern that you built in
the previous exercise, >Browser /Data /Pattern /Add /Load.
3. Before drawing the network, follow the configuration ritual. From now on, it will
be taken for granted that each exercise is started with this ritual.
4. Measure and prepare the image. Remember to trim it using the points with
known coordinates and to change it to BMP format.
Unless specified otherwise, all the pipes in the exercises from here on will be
of plastic, the most common material in development contexts.
7. Introduce the demands and the consumption patterns of the different points.
In the case of the trough, we simulate all 5 as a single node. The average was
0.126 l/s according to the calculation in point 2.
In the case of the people, each area will contribute according to the number of
families that it contains. The total volume is 5,880 liters / 24h*3,600s = 0.068
l/s. Thus,
8. To answer the first question, “Is the flow of the spring sufficient?” you must see
if the flow of the pipe at the outlet of the reservoir is greater at any moment
than the flow of the spring. For this, go to analysis in extended period with a
duration of 24 hrs >Browser /Data / Options /Time and calculate the network
again.
Perhaps the quickest way to see if the flow exceeds 0.5 l/s is by means of a
graph of flow vs. time. Press the Graph icon:
In the menu that comes up, you have all the options of Epanet to represent
results in graph form. They are very simple and they do not need huge
explanations. To make the graph of the flow changes select Time Series, Flow
and Links. In Links to Represent add the pipe that exits the reservoir in your
model. The configuration of the dialogue and the result is shown below. The
intermittent line at 0.5 l/s is not drawn by Epanet; it is an addition to facilitate
the visualization.
The answer is NO. From a little before 5:00 until 7:40 there is a deficit of water
and also from 18:40 to 20:20.
This graph is very interesting and it is going to answer the second question,
“Would it be resolved by building a tank?” The areas below the dotted line and
outside the pattern curve (blue) correspond with the volume of water from the
spring that would end up at the tank in the periods in which the consumption is
smaller than the demand. The shaded zones of the peaks (red) correspond to
the volume of water that would leave the tank when the demand is greater
than the spring produces.
If the blue zone is greater than the red peaks then the source of water is
sufficient, it only remains to store the water during the low consumption
periods by placing a storage tank for the periods of high consumption.
The mathematical way to answer the second question is to subtract the total
consumption from the total production:
0.5 l/s * 24h * 3,600 s/h = 43,200 l – (10,920+5,880)l = 26,400 extra liters
11. Make a graph of the evolution of the volume stored in the tank. To do it, click
on it once to select it and press the Graph icon. There select the parameter
height.
12. Repeating this process and modifying the properties of the tank and avoiding
errors in the simulation, you can determine the size of the tank. But let’s leave
it here.
Reservoir sizing
1. Calculate the hourly consumptions for each type of consumer (animals and
people) and add them in the third column. The total consumptions for each
hour are calculated by multiplying the multiplier for the hour by the average
daily volume. For example, at 05:00 the people will consume: 0.24 * 245 l=59 l.
We then put under the production column: nine cells with 1,800 and in the
tenth cell 600, a third of 1,800. Start filling the cells that coincide with a high
consumption.
The hour of the day in which you put the entries will determine the size of
the tank. When the water enters at a time of higher consumption, less
water is stored and the tanks can be smaller. If water is stored and it is not
consumed, the tank will have to be of the total volume that is consumed.
The volume of the tank is the remainder of the maximum volume accumulated, 1,297
liters, from the minimum, -2.210 liters:
To this quantity it would be necessary to add reserves for fires, storage for
contingencies, etc. Notice what happens if the entrances are put in at the
moments of smaller consumption:
In this case, the volume would be: 9,000 liters – (-5,400 liters) = 14,400 liters,
much more.
If you used an organized spreadsheet, you will already have the template for
the next time.
The data of the 1997 census indicates that the population of Mtala
was 12,321 people. In the 2007 census, the current population was
17,544 people. If you plan a system for Mtala with a design period
of 30 years, for which population would you do it? Compare the
results of the different projection formulas.
100* (17,544 people - 12,321 people) / 10 years * 12,321 people = 4.2 % per
year.
In this problem you would be able to use two approaches, both based on the
populations having a limited population. The first, simpler and less accurate is
described in this exercise.
As the population density grows, the motivation to inhabit a specific zone falls. Looking
at the chart and the growth rates, we observe that many boxes are of the value 36.
Download the file 21.zip to avoid having to copy all the data at:
www.arnalich.com/dwnl/epaxen/21.zip
1. Deduce what the limit value could be. It is a good idea to discuss with the
area’s population whether they think that they are crowded or not to avoid false
and excessively low limits. We can take, for example, the value of 36 families
per plot as the limit.
2. Deduce the total quantity of people, assuming that all the plots are populated
with this density.
3. If you had used the geometric formula in this case, using for example the
average of the growth rates, 5.8%, the result would have been 16,412 people,
3.8 times greater. This is due to the fact that newly occupied areas have very
varied growth rates. To find the average, the Excel function AVERAGE() is
used.
Again it is based on the idea that the growth rate will decrease to the extent that the
density increases. To verify that this occurs, we use a statistical technique called
regression. Look it up in Wikipedia or in google it for more information.
Even though it is very simple to do by hand, it is somewhat laborious. We will use the
spreadsheet.
1. Select the family and growth rate columns as if you were going to copy them.
4. Add a trend line. Select the graph’s points, right click and select Add Trendline.
6. At the bottom, tick Show equation in the graph and Show the value R squared
in the graph. Also indicate to extrapolate forward so that the trend line cuts the
X axis.
The point where the line cuts the axis, where the growth rate is 0, gives us the
density limit value.
Y = -0.4176x + 16.337
0 = -0.4176x + 16.337 → x = 16.337/0.4176 = 39.12 families/lot
The value R2 is a measure of the strength of the relationship between the two
variables. If it is 0, the variables are independent and, the closer the value is to
1 or -1, the stronger the dependence between the variables. An absolute value
of 0.8 or greater is a good closeness.
Note that this value is more logical than that obtained by geometric progression.
1
Note: strictly speaking one should do an ANOVA of the growth rates and a more complicated statistical
analysis. However, it would complicate things considerably without huge benefits. Simply make sure that you
do not use this process if you have less than 10 pairs of data.
2. Calculate the weekly coefficient. For this, take the value of the day with the
highest measurement. If the day of the measurement is the highest, the
coefficient is 1 and the results would not change.
M measurement = M wednesday = 96
V Max = V sunday = 116
C weekly = 116/ 96 = 1.208. Approximately 1.21
It is not necessary to calculate the rest of the days. What is important is that
Wednesday’s measurements must be increased by 21% to convert them to the day of
highest consumption.
M measurement = M september = 90
V Max = V july = 100
C monthly = 100/ 90 = 1.11
4. Determine the coefficient for the non-measured consumption. For lack of data
on illegal connections, and assuming the network to be well maintained, we
can use 20%, that is 1.2.
43,000 people * 50 l/person *1.61 / (24 hours * 3,600 s/h) = 40.09 l/s
Save the Epanet file as 23.net and leave it open for the next exercise.
Look at file 23.net. The network is drawn as a sketch without losing time making it
regular and pretty, but all the distances between the pipes are 100 m.
If the population and nodes are homogeneously distributed in an area, the simplest
way to assign the demand is to assume that consumption is equal in all the nodes.
2. Incorporate this demand base to all the nodes. Remember, >Edit / Select all
and after >Edit / Edit group.
3. Configure Epanet to carry out an analysis in extended period with the start
time coinciding with the daily peak (>Browser /Data /Options /Time).
4. Modify the key to adapt to the design interval, 10-30 m, show velocity in the
pipes and optimize the network. Start by reducing redundant pipes:
In spite of the fact that the exterior ring is bigger than needed at various points
in the left lower corner, it is worthwhile to install a larger size if there is the
possibility of future expansions. The diameter of the central pipe can be
reduced.
5. A very simple way to optimize this network, if the topography allows, is to set
up the tank at a lower elevation. Try, for example, to lower it to 32 m.
6. Increase the diameter of the downpipe from the tank. The decrease in losses
will allow the tank to be lowered even more. Note that on changing the
diameter of the downpipe from 200 mm to 300 mm, the pressure at the most
critical point goes from 10.48 m to 14.30 m. This will allow you to lower the
tank a few more meters.
Save the exercise as 24.net so you can use it in the ageing calculations.
In the absence of large consumers, all the small consumers of a pipe are distributed in
equal parts among the nodes on each end. If there was a large consumer, it would be
placed on the exact point of the pipe to adequately represent the differential load that it
makes on each node.
1. Calculate the population at the end of 20 years and adequately correct the
demand.
To know how much we should increase the demand, we can find the multiplier
using the traditional way 18,061/10,000 = 1.81 or we could employ the
previous formula for only one inhabitant: Pf = 1 (1 + 0.03) 20 = 1.81.
2. Distribute half of the consumption from the different pipes that flow into a node.
Bring the demand up to date keeping in mind the population projection.
For example, half of 2 l/s is assigned to node 1, that is to say, 1 l/s. The future
demand will be 1 l/s * 1.81 = 1.81 l/s. The remainder of the nodes are shown in
the table:
1. Calculate the population at the end of 10 years and adequately correct the
demand.
Again, we can find the multiplier in the traditional way 24,380/20,000 = 1.219
or we could employ the previous formula for only one inhabitant Pf = 1 (1 +
0.02) 10 = 1.219. Therefore, each inhabitant will consume:
2. Calculate how many inhabitants correspond to each node. For example, half of
the pipe between 1 and 2 will correspond to node 1:
Nodes 2 and 3, and 1 and 4 are symmetrical with one another. The
consumption is obtained by multiplying the inhabitants of each node by its
consumption then by the projection multiplier:
In Mapu the current density of the block where the work is planned
is 200 people/km2 and its surface is 2 km2. It has been seen that the
population stabilizes at densities of around 250 people/km2.
Calculate the demand of the nodes for 30 years if each inhabitant
consumes 0.01 l/s.
1. Project the future population. Don’t consider the 30 years design period; in this
case you should focus on the density limit in the statement.
If a node forms part of several loops, the flows that correspond to each one of
the loops are added together.
Chlorine
Tap water should contain a residual quantity of chlorine of 0.2-0.6 ppm (ppm and mg/l
are the same thing for water). Chlorine is consumed:
b) In contact with the wall of the pipe. This wall coefficient is very difficult
to determine. However, if you use plastic pipes, as is frequently the
case, it is 0.
Ageing
Water quality depends on how long it spends in the pipes. The quality can be
deteriorated by intrusions, infiltrations and by internal reactions. If you have opened a
tap in a house that had not been inhabited for some time, for example after a vacation,
you should know what I am referring to. Try to design a system so that the water does
not spend more than 24 hours in the network. The most problematic parts are those
furthest from the source and branched networks.
On the other hand, chlorine needs to be in contact with water for 30 minutes to have its
full effect. You should pay attention to the points where the ageing is less than 30
minutes if the water was not in contact with chlorine before being distributed
(chlorination in the tank).
Dilutions
The simplest way to treat water with a too high parameter is to dilute it. Imagine for
example that a borehole provides water with an excess of salinity. In another nearby
borehole the water is not saline but does not provide water in sufficient quantity to
cover all the demand. Mixing both, a sufficient volume with a lower salinity can be
obtained. Epanet allows us to see the percentage of water that comes from a given
source in each node and to follow the concentration of a chemical in the network.
A sample of water from the river Tuerlo has been taken. It has been
placed in a glass container and chlorine has been added to a
concentration of 2 ppm. 36 hours later the concentration was 1.4
ppm. What is the bulk coefficient? If water with 1 ppm of chlorine
travels 10 km through a pipe of 75 mm from the chlorination station
situated at an elevation of 52 m to a single node that consumes 0.6
l/s at an elevation of 0 m, will it arrive with an adequate
concentration of chlorine?
2. Draw the proposed network off the statement and introduce the data except
the coefficient. However, every kilometer place a node without consumption,
to be able to see how the concentration of chlorine changes along the way:
Did you remember to use the default values 140, 75 mm and 1 km?
3.1 To see the evolution over time you need to keep in mind a consumption
pattern. For lack of data, use a generic one, for example, 16.pat (>Browser
/Data /Patterns / Load).
3.5 Define the chlorine consumptions, introducing the bulk coefficient in pipe
properties and leaving the wall coefficient unmarked (equivalent to having 0
value). The quickest way to do it is by Group Edit:
It may be that Epanet gives you trouble with the minus sign. If that is the
case, one way to get around is writing -0.2378 in another program,
copying it and pasting it into the dialog box. Use the right click menu to
paste, not ctrl + v.
4. Observe the results of the node terminal hour after hour. If you do a graph
you will see that Epanet considers the pipe to be full of water with no
chlorine at the moment of initiating the simulation. It is not until the 19th hour
that the first load of chlorinated water arrives at the node where it is
consumed.
Once the first load arrives, the concentration barely drops from the original.
This behavior is normal, and even helpful, since it allows us to maintain the
margins of chlorine at great distances from the network and avoiding
secondary chlorinators. In this network the chlorination at the source has to be
diminished. The values are too high.
5. Change the concentration of chlorine at source to 0,5 ppm and see what
happens:
This chlorine concentration at source would maintain the chlorine values within
the suitable range of values.
The objective of modeling the chlorine is to discover the need for satellite
chlorinators, to detect points of excessive concentration that could cause
refusal by the consumers and to guide the operators toward the best working
concentrations.
1. The first sample is not usable. It is not known if it arrived at 0 ppm after 3 or 7
hours. In any case, they should not be allowed to arrive at a 0 concentration
because of problems of precision.
Cn 0.3
Ln Ln
C0 2.8
K= = = -1.1168 day-1
t 2
In some cases, especially those with high water temperature, the coefficients
can reach such negative values.
3. Change the bulk coefficient of all the pipes and repeat the simulation.
In this case, the variations are more noticeable but they continue are still
maintained between 0.2 and 0.6 ppm even in the periods of less consumption
when the water takes longer to complete its journey.
3. To see Quality on the screen, select it in Nodes from the Browser. Adjust the
key scale in order to see significant time intervals; especially 0.5 (30 minutes)
in the lower one in order to detect areas with insufficient contact with chlorine,
and 24 to detect areas of stagnation.
4. Change the start time for the results to what it was, 0:00 (>Browser /Data
/Options /Times / Report Start Time) and calculate the network so as to take in
to account the latest configurations.
Notice that water is not in the network for very long and the worry would be more
the time of contact with the chlorine rather than ageing. Shortly after the moment of
maximum consumption the ageing is at a minimum. The residence time is bigger in
the most distant zones (left lower corner).
5. Change the consumption of the nodes to 0.2 l/s and see what happens.
The demand is now much lower, the velocity in the pipes has drastically
decreased and the travel times are much greater.
6. Add a lateral branch using the default options (200 mm, 100 m) as shown in
the image. Node A has a demand of 0.2 l/s and B is a dead end without
demand. Calculate and observe what happens.
In spite of the fact that the road to A is a lot shorter than to other parts of
the network, the time of permanence is way off. This is due to this part not
being looped. The nodes in branches (A), those more distant from the
source (C) and the nodes with very low consumption (B) are the most
problematic regarding ageing. If the times are too high you should modify
the network to decrease them. To do this, you can decrease the travel
distance or close a nearby network.
Save the file as 30.net and leave it open for the next exercise.
2. The substance is inert. Eliminate any coefficient of extinction that there was in
the pipes using Group Edit. Change the demand to the original one, 3.34 l/s.
Verify that the model remains inside the design pressure limits before looking
at any parameters of quality. Only one parameter at a time can be calculated.
3. Introduce the
concentration of
the sources of
the substance in
the parameter
Initial Quality:
5. Calculate the network; change the Browser to Chemical and the legend to
detect any value over 8 ppm.
6. The evaluation of all the hours shows that, although for the hours of low
consumption and the south part the concentration of the substance is inside
limits, in the hours of greater consumption the majority of nodes continue to
have illegal values. Modify the network to make the mix more favorable.
8. Modify the key to see the results. To make it more visual and so the nodes
take their size according to value, right click on any point of the screen and
select Options. In Nodes, check the box Proportional to Value.
The first day 55.57% of the water stems from B, however, observe what happens the
next day at the same time:
We had taken as good a model that in reality does not solve much! We
need to mix both sources because B is insufficient. Always, but especially
in quality analysis, you must become accustomed to let the model run for
several days in order to eliminate erroneous results.
If you are interested, get yourself involved in this case until you achieve no more than
75% of the water in the period coming from B without the substance values surpassing
the limits.
Scenarios
Exercise 32. Reservoir between distribution and pump
Exercise 33. Springs and tail tanks
Exercise 34. Pressure zones
Exercise 35. Adding a pump
Exercise 36. Modeling a borehole
Exercise 37. Skeletonization
Scenarios
Pumps
A pumped system can be substituted in a great many cases by a reservoir using the
pumping head as elevation, as you will see very soon.
Unless you see a clear advantage in simulating a pump, avoid placing them
in Epanet. You will discover that they have a certain tendency to try your
patience. If you place some, first stabilize the network as if it was a pure
gravity-flow project and then place and work the pump to avoid having too
many variable sources.
In the exercises we are going to see simplifications that avoid the use of pumps as well
as ways to locate them with fewer problems.
Pressure zones
Occasionally a network has points where the elevations have too much difference to
be able to reconcile the pressure of them all. To solve it, pressure zones are
established and the network is divided into sub networks where the pressure can be
maintained within an appropriate range. As a guideline it is not necessary to establish
pressure zones for differences less than 37 m. If there is a map with contour lines, the
establishment of pressure zones is direct, following the contour lines. In this case, the
400 m line divides the zone of high pressure from the drop.
Skeletonization
Building a model representing each one of the components of a network is tedious
work, prone to error, difficult to analyze, that takes effort to update and is extremely
expensive. Imagine that in a network that supplies 10,000 dwellings you had to
represent the interior network of each one of them!
Skeletonization consists of finding models of the equivalent network increasingly more
simple. The way to find if they are equivalent or not is to run the two models and see in
which measure they produce similar results. In practice this is difficult and laborious to
do. In developing projects the networks are rarely excessively complicated. You can
apply skeletonization without problems summarizing all the consumption in one unique
node in:
If you need to skeletonize to a greater extent or you want a more detailed explanation,
you can consult point 3.11 of the book “Advanced Water Distribution Modeling and
Management”.
Observe that the system has a pumped part, from the tank to the left, and a part by
gravity, to the right. Upon discharging the pump pipe into a container open to the
atmosphere the water will depressurize. This isolates the part on the right from the left.
However powerful the pump is, the pressure of the public fountains will not vary. This is
the reason why in Exercise 13 it was only modeled from the tank onwards.
2. Introduce the data from the statement and use the general pattern of
consumption (16.net).
3. Calculate the network. You will get something like this, and you can probably
already sense that the challenge of this exercise is to control the excess of
pressure.
4. Try to decrease the pressure by increasing the friction. To do this get Epanet
to show you the results at the peak time, 14:00 (>Browser /Data /Options
/Times / Report Start Time).
A change of the main pipe to 75 mm leaves the pressure within the interval of
calculation at peak time:
A way to resolve this system is by the installation of a break pressure tank (BPT).
Again, the pipe enters a tank in contact with the air and depressurizes. A break
pressure tank is a very small tank with a free exit and an entrance regulated by a
floating valve.
When the consumption is less than the water that arrives from a higher elevation the
tank fills with water and cuts the flow from above. Selecting the elevation of installation
of this tank to halfway on the slope can regulate the pressure.
The pressure at peak time was 70 m. To work out the elevation of the break
pressure tank with which to begin the tests, subtract the maximum pressure of
design from the maximum of the system without pressure break tank and then
this value from the elevation of the tank:
70 m – 30 m = 40 m 1,892 m – 40 m = 1,852 m
6. Modify the pipes until the values of design comply in pressure. The pressure
curve has the same form as the one that we calculated before, but now all the
values are inside range.
7. Check that the water ageing is less than 24 hours (>Browser /Data /Options
/Quality /Age).
8. Check that, at peak time, the velocity in the pipes is between 0.5 and 2 m/s,
another important design criterion.
Velocities over 2 m/s indicate that the pipe is too small and they rocket the
friction. The minimum velocity is 0.5 m/s in the case of water that contains
sediments so that the pipes are self cleaning. If the water does not have
sediments, there is no minimum velocity.
9. Once the network is stabilized, the diameter of the pipe that goes from the tank
to the break pressure tank should be selected. This entrance pipe should be
capable of transporting more water than the maximum volume of the departing
pipe. Work out the volume of the departing pipe at peak time, 7.18 l/s:
10. To ascertain its diameter quickly, place a reservoir at the elevation of the tank
and a node at the elevation of the BPT and join them with a 534 m pipe in a
new Epanet project. Assign it a demand of 7.18 l/s, and make sure you don’t
apply any consumption pattern. Select the minimum pipe that maintains the
pressures above 10 m.
It remains to determine which pump to choose, the size of the tank and the pipe for the
pump. If there is not a great choice in the market, it is the pump that determines the
size of the other elements. A 20 m3/h pump needs a smaller pipe than one of 40 m3/h.
In the same way, a pump with a greater yield will generally need a smaller tank.
The choice of pump remains outside the objectives of this manual and is not
complicated. The decision regarding the size of tank has already been looked at and
the selection of the diameter of pipe and it is that diameter that keeps the pump
expenses low plus depreciation. There is an example in Exercise 42.
2. Draw the network (with the way Auto-Length On!) and introduce the values of
the statement. To limit the flow of a reservoir you can use a dummy flow
control valve. As this type of valve cannot be connected directly to a reservoir,
you will need to place a dummy node without consumption. It is very important
to draw the valve in the sense of a flow, that is to say, first in the new node and
then in the corner of the network.
To insert the valve, click on the icon and then click on each extreme node
as written previously. Right click on it to open its properties, and choose Valve
Type FCV. In Setting, introduce 2 (l/s).
In other words: at 30 hours the flow that the nodes demand is greater than the
valve can let through. Ignore this error, it is useful the first time but it quickly
becomes tiresome.
To obtain more flow you should build a tank where the water is going to stop
when the demand is smaller than the capacity of the spring, and which
contributes water when the opposite occurs.
4. Place a tail tank at 100 m from Source 3. The elevation is a variable that you
must work out. Try, for example, 15 m. As it is not practical to build tanks
raised to whatever height, introduce values that are possible as if it were a real
case.
5. Calculate the size of tank necessary before calculating with Epanet to avoid
working with too many variables.
To visualize the operation of the tail tank, right click on the sketch and open
the dialogue Options. In Flow Arrows, check the Open option. From this
moment, the direction of the water in the pipes is shown by means of arrows.
6. Begin the process of optimization of the pipes until you find the smallest that
maintain the ranges of pressure. In my case, all the pipes are of 50 mm, save
the outlet pipe of the tail tank. If the distances were greater, we would have
installed larger pipes to avoid problems of blockages.
7. Lower the tail tank to the lowest height that achieves adequate pressure in the
network.
Each point will consume: 6 taps/ramp * 3 ramps* 0.125 l/s = 2.25 l/s
3. Establish the elevation of the points. Beginning with A and moving South,
apply the 2% in the following way.
200 m * 0.02 = 4 m
The elevations of the next column are 62 m; 62-13.8 = 48.2 m and so on. The
elevations at each point are as follows:
5. Try to adjust the pressure of all the points between 10-30 m, in the peak time
as well as in those of less consumption (introduce the demand 0 because
there is no pattern to apply). When you have given up, turn the page to see
what is happening.
The difference in elevation between the point of the highest loop, at 62 m, and the
lower one, at -5.2 m is 67.2 m… a lot greater than the design interval!
The break pressure tank isolates the two networks. Take advantage of this to calculate
the networks separately which is much simpler. Begin with the Low Network which is
much easier, and place the BPT as if was in node A, that is to say in the reservoir at an
elevation of 62 m. The length of the pipe will be 1,800 m, three sections of 600 m. As
the network is going to be sized according to the capacity of distribution, a
consumption pattern is not necessary.
6. Draw the diagram and introduce the data to the plan of the low network. The
best thing is probably to save the file that you have to return to later, and then
save it again as Low Network and eliminate the objects that you don’t need.
To avoid breaking up the network into too many pressure zones, increase this
amount by slightly more than 10 meters, which will give a pressure of slightly
more than 35.8 m when the network in not in use. This pressure is only
somewhat greater that the maximum limit of the network. As there is a point
with an elevation of 34.4 m the BPT would be placed in the outlet of this point
like this:
7. In Epanet, the only thing that you have to do is to change the elevation of the
BPT to 36 m and the length of the pipe to 600 m. Note that we only increased
it by 10 m. The reason for this is that the water will circulate downhill in the
proposed network and it does not need extra pressure from the BPT.
8. Re-introduce the demand in all the nodes and optimize this network. Change
diameters, eliminate pipes, add them, or any action that you consider useful. A
possible result is shown below.
9. Open the original file and this time eliminate the lower part. The pipe that
descends from Lake D has to supply both networks. To keep in mind the
effects, in terms of the consumption of the lower network on the high one, a
node is placed that groups all of its consumption: 8 nodes * 2.25 l/s*node = 18
l/s.
Note that the elevation of the lake is excessive and that it is also necessary to
place a BPT in this line of descent.
10. Decide the elevation of the BPT and optimize the network (consider that the
slope from the lake to A is homogeneous in order to calculate the length of
pipe BPT-A). You will need similar compromises to that of the other BPT. I
have thought to place it at 72 m, which gives me a pipe length of:
11. Calculate and optimize the network keeping in mind that the point that
represents the low network cannot have less than 10 m of pressure. With this
pressure the supply to the low network is guaranteed. Greater pressures would
imply a cost of unnecessary energy. This solution, for example, would not be
valid because it would leave the Low Network without water.
To allow future expansions southwards, it has been decided not to install pipes
of less than 100 mm in the ring and one solution would be this:
12. Calculate the pipe that descends from the Lake to the first BPT. Its length is
656 m. See what is the lowest diameter that pipe BPT-A can be, now that it is
higher:
You can have a look at the section “Modeling a pump station” in Chapter 3 of the
theory book.
The first thing to notice is the sense in which the pump is drawn. One of the
most frequent errors is to draw the pump the wrong way round and to be
asking continually why the network doesn’t work. When you draw objects
other than pipes in Epanet, always draw them in the direction in which the
water is going to circulate. In the case of a pump, imagine it as if it was a
canon. If "you shoot" in the right direction then it is correctly positioned.
3. Eliminate the pump. The first step is to work and balance the network; then to
place the pump. The source of water is going to be the reservoir by gravity.
4. Change the elevation of the reservoir to the highest point of the network,
increasing by 10 m more than the maximum pressure limit:
5. Join the reservoir with the network and begin to optimize it. The main objective
is to lower the elevation of the reservoir as much as possible. The higher the
reservoir, the more energy will be needed. The lower it is, the less pumping
expense and the greater the installation costs since the pipes will have to be of
a greater diameter. In the next chapter we will see how to determine the costs
of each of the alternatives. For the time being use your best judgement. One
way to get an idea is by using the friction analysis or unit loss.
You can read the section “Calculation Criterion” in Chapter 6 of the theory
book to understand the concept of hydraulic gradient. Unit loss, head loss and
hydraulic gradient are synonymous.
6. Work the model until you have low values of unit loss. For the pump pipe,
achieve values smaller than 5 m/km and for the others, below 10 m/km.
7. Once you have ensured that the pipes have acceptable frictions you have
determined the diameters of the pipes to use. Notice that the pressure is too
high. This is the opportunity to achieve the fundamental objective of lowering
the elevation of the reservoir (the height that the future pump must overcome).
Find out if the elevation is adequate.
Notice that the pipe frictions haven’t changed. You now know the parameters
of the pump that you should install. The flow is:
Right click on the reservoir pipe and in properties in End Node or Start Node,
according to the order in which you have drawn the network, change from
Reservoir to the new node that you have drawn.
The pipe will change and will be situated between the new
node and the start of the loop . The new node allows you
to enter the real length of pipe as the pump, although
drawn with pipe, doesn’t allow to enter diameters, lengths,
etc.
Draw the pump between the reservoir and the new node.
Don’t forget to change the reservoir elevation to 0 again!
9. Define a curve for the pump, >Browser / Data /Curve Editor /New. Introduce
the data indicated with the arrows in the image below and a name if you want
something different from "1". The rest of the information is entered by Epanet
automatically:
10. Introduce the name of the curve in the property "Pump Curve" of the pump and
calculate the network. Note that the pressures of the fictitious gravitational
network and the real pumped one are exactly the same.
Some networks with several interacting pumps and consumption patterns are
easier to calculate and analyze using pumps. For the others, avoid them
completely because they do not always behave with the same consideration
as in this exercise nor are they always so docile.
A tank of 6 m x 6 m has a surface of 36 m2. You now have to find the diameter
of a circle with an area of 36 m2. The equation for this is:
A* B
The generic equation, being A and B, width and length is: D=2
π
2. Draw the tank, introduce this data and download the background. With Auto-
Length activated, join the tank to the network.
In this system one must work with a consumption pattern to ascertain if the capacity of
the borehole is sufficient and how the existing tank would function as a balancing tank.
3. Decide how many liters per person are going to be distributed. One way to do
this is to calculate how much water would be produced in x operation hours of
the existing borehole and to divide it among the existing population. In an
emergency it is usually necessary to stretch the systems to work to their
maximum, say working 22 hours and leaving 2 for maintenance operations.
4. Calculate average flow and allocate the demand among the nodes:
6. At this point you can see if it is worthwhile to restore the tank, calculating by
hand the size that would be necessary. Alternatively, you can see the evolution
of the flow in Epanet.
Volume 108 m3
7. Try to see what quantity of water could be distributed per person if the tank is
used whilst avoiding negative pressures.
In reality, people are going to consume the amount of water that is available.
Nevertheless, this type of calculation is useful because the water network will
teach people to consume according to a flatter pattern. Some users will avoid
peak consumption times when there are more queues and less pressure.
Volume 73 m3
At 32.5 liters per person per day, the size of the tank is approximately that
which is necessary. Although this exercise lends itself to multiple verifications
and tests of different solutions, to keep it manageable as a book of exercises,
continue calculating the network with this new consumption figure.
8. Incorporate the new data in the model. Change the calculation method to an
extended period of 72 h with a report start time of 14:00.
10. The network is completely unbalanced. The pressures are excessive; the
friction of some pipes is too low, while that of others reaches values of 40
m/km. Work the network and decrease the elevation of the reservoir.
11. Calculate the real elevation of the reservoir and the height of the pump:
12. Draw the network with the pump from the auxiliary node
(aux) and change the elevation of the reservoir:
13. Create a curve for the pump with 71 m of head and 5 l/s (>Browser /Data
/Curves /New). Introduce the name of this curve in the parameter Curve of the
pump.
14. Calculate the network. Normally the simulation is valid. If this message comes
up, the pump is operating outside of range, providing more flow than specified:
Rebalance the network without the pump. If the network requires the pump to
work above its head or height, Epanet will stop it and will notify you:
15. According to the calculation measured in point 6, the pump functions from 6:00
AM to 00:20, a total of 20.33 hours. To specify this you should do an operation
pattern similar to the consumption pattern, where 1 signifies ON and 0 OFF
(>Browser /Data /Pattern /New).
17. Enter the Report Start Time as 0:00 and calculate the network.
If at these heights you thought that pumps were not so complicated, check what sort of
message you get if you set the reservoir elevation at -150 m and change a node
demand for 10 l/s. However, it is not the amount but the creativity of the errors of
pumps that is so intimidating. A great number of these messages are repetitive.
This will cause a large number of the original errors to disappear, leaving only
a height error.
19. In the behavior curve of the pump enter an excessive height, for example, 200.
You will see that the error in your network persists and is not a question of
height.
Notice that the problem happens at 23:00 hours (corresponding to 0:00, since
Epanet begins at 1:00), that is to say, almost at the end of the day. If you
change the multiplier 0.33 to 1, you will have no more errors. Entering
multipliers of 1 or 0 will avoid many problems.
The problems of pumps are many and varied. They are not particularly difficult to solve
but they can consume a lot of time and be somewhat exasperating. Remember that the
main way to avoid them is to ask if it really contributes something to have the pump in
the model. In a development context, the majority of the times the answer is NO.
The pump to which the statement refers has a ball inflated to 2 bars. When the
pressure falls below 2 bars, it starts automatically.
1. Once you have configured Epanet, load the background image and enter its
dimensions. Remember to change the format of the image to BMP. You may
also have to lighten the background to be able to see your sketch more clearly.
2. Draw the network. You can substitute the pump for a reservoir with a 20 m
elevation. The rest of the nodes will have a 0 m elevation. The result is shown
on the following page.
You will have already realized that the most laborious part is doing the
model of this very simple network, even if all the elevations are equal, all the
consumptions are equal and with Epanet introducing the lengths.
4. To keep the exercise manageable, change the diameter of all the pipes to 75
mm and calculate the network.
Note that the pressure of this node before and after the change remains the
same; both models are equal, but the second is now somewhat simpler.
There is not a lot that can be systematized in the process of skeletonization. Up to now
you have seen the process that will save you a lot of work without running great risks.
From there, you can experiment, checking the results between the changed model and
the original one to see up to what point it can be simplified. However, it will be rare that
you skeletonize beyond what you have seen here. The main reason being that, to do a
quality analysis, you need the complete model and it is rare for development projects
to have a complexity that justifies maintaining two models.
Do not use models more skeletonized than you have seen here to evaluate
parameters of water quality! The skeletonized model has less pipe length
and unidirectional circulation, and this changes the results to a great extent.
You can continue with this exercise, remembering to continue saving each different
stage if you want to compare them.
Economic issues
Exercise 38. The investment bill
Exercise 39. Pumping costs
Exercise 40. Comparing alternatives
Exercise 41. Volatile countries
Exercise 42. Economic diameter
Exercise 43. Economic diameter II
Exercise 44. Using Epanet
Economic issues
The hydraulic aspects are important so that the service can exist. The economic
aspects are determinants and also the difference between a network being another
jumble of humane scrap or a key service that empowers the economic and social
development of a community.
Costs
All activities have two types of cost. The investment cost is the cost of purchasing the
equipment or the network installations. The running cost is the total of the day to day
costs. To the extent that the investment cost increases, for example, by enlarging the
diameter of a pipe, the operating costs decrease e.g. pump consumption. The most
economic solution is that which minimizes the sum of both costs, the lowest point of
the Total expenditure curve.
Cost comparison
So that the costs are comparable they should be examined at the same point in time,
normally at the beginning of the project. The operating cost is easy to determine,
except for random costs like damages. Normally they are negligible compared to the
main costs: pump and water processing. For the investment cost, you must keep in
mind both inflation effects and depreciation of money over time. Also bear in mind the
amortization during the useful life (design period). Use these formulas successively:
(1 + r ) T * r
at =
(1 + r ) T − 1 at, amortization factor
In a development context, operating costs are assigned a greater importance when the
investment costs are taken on by donor. If you are faced with a donor imposed limit,
decrease the size of the intervention and make it more modest, but resist the
temptation to increase the operation costs.
Ability to pay
Whether a project ends up being abandoned or not, depends on the perception of the
system’s users. A system that requires more resources than the users want to invest
will be abandoned. It is very important that the operating costs and the investment
payback be below what the users are willing to spend. Find out what this is and
consider it your main design criterion, over and above pressure, hydraulic gradient
lines and all others. Be humble. The decision regarding the amount is not yours; it is a
decision of the users.
Cost Ranking
The projects which you have worked on have a cost distribution as follows:
You can read the paragraph “Dry Diametritis” in Chapter 7 of the theory book
to see how to benefit from this situation and avoid the most common
problems of excessive economic zeal.
• Gigantism. The placement of pipes much larger than are really necessary,
impairing the quality and increasing the investment and maintenance costs.
• Strangulation of the sources. This is the case in a network where the pipes
are too small at the outlet from a tank, reservoir or pump.
1. Calculate the real interest rate. The interest, i=0.04 and inflation, s=0.03, then:
1+ i 1 + 0.04
r= − 1= − 1 = 0.00097
1+ s 1 + 0.03
(1 + r ) T * r (1 + 0.0097) 25 * 0.0097
at = = = 0.04524
(1 + r ) T − 1 (1 + 0.0097) 25 − 1
Notice that it is different from 100,000 €/ 25 years =4,000 €/ year. This is due to the
corrected value of the investment, called present value, being F * 25 years = 113,109
€ and not simply 100,000.
A pump station fills a tank which supplies the city. The pump
supplies the tank at a rate of 7 l/s and uses 10 kW per hour
according to the manufacturer. The population that it supplies is
1,200 people and it has been established that each inhabitant
receives 50 liters daily. The price of a kW is 0.155 € and doesn’t
vary during the day. What is the cost of the pump? If the electricity
was provided by generator and the cost of diesel was 1 €/l, what
would be the new cost?
1. Establish the cost per m3 of water. In an hour, the station will pump:
1. Find out the data on inflation for India. You can use the World Bank site:
http://go.worldbank.org/WLW1HK71Q0
Take a second to observe how the annual bill varies with changing interest rates or
inflation.
4. Work out the operating cost of alternative A. 1.7 ppm is the same as 1.7
mg/l. Keeping in mind that the chlorine is at 70%, the quantity that is
needed is:
50,000 m3/y * 1.7 mg/l * 1,000 l/m3 * 1kg/1,000,000 mg / 0.7 = 121.43 kg/y
5. Work out the operating cost of alternative B. The data from the
manufacturer’s diagram are 38.4 m3/h and 5.96 kWh. The number of
operating hours and the cost in kWh are:
In those countries with variable inflation, prioritize the initial investment over
any operating cost. On one hand, the money will quickly lose value. On the
other hand, there is a risk that the price of the products, notably the fuel,
will rise far above what the users can afford. The system will stop
functioning just when the users are most vulnerable.
1. Using the Mougnie formula of optimum velocities you can ascertain a band of
diameters. Use the formula on the right, modified for flows and assuming a
maximum velocity V max = 1 m/s.
We can carry out the calculations for pipes of 100 mm, of 125 mm and of 150
mm.
6. Change the diameter of the pipe progressively and make a note of the values:
7. Calculate the energy cost of each alternative. Assume that the performance of
the pump is very similar for the different pumping heights. If you want to be
very precise you will have to select a pump for each scenario and use its
particular efficiency.
2. Add the annual cost to each one of the alternatives in the operating cost.
The most economic option is 125 mm without great advantages over the 150 mm. In
this case it is probably more advantageous to install the larger pipe to be prepared for
future installations. Note that we have not included excavation costs, installation, etc.!
Even though there are formulas to work out the economic diameter, like that of
Mendiluce, I believe that they are more complicated to use.
In the area from Exercise 36.net, the electricity costs 0.05 € from
0:00-6:00, 0.15 € from 6:00-18:00, and 0.12 € from 18:00-0:00. The
pump has a 60% efficiency. What is the annual cost per pump?
2. Calculate the multipliers that will determine the variation in electrical costs:
0:00-6:00 1
6:00-18.00 0.15 €/h / 0.05 €/h = 3
18:00-0:00 0.12 €/h / 0.05 €/h = 2.4
3. Create a pattern for the price in the same way that you created the
consumption patterns :
5. To get the report, calculate the network and follow >Report /Energy:
The annual cost will be 13.43 €/d * 365 d/y = 4,902 €/y.
Calculate the consumption in the way that is most comfortable for you.
However, if you use Epanet, enter the exact data of the pump to avoid the
approximations that Epanet uses when there is no precise data. Introduce
pump curves at 3 points at least using the manufacturer’s data.
The end of the book has arrived; yet you will still have some questions. Many of them
are only resolved with experience.
Just like the network models, this book was intended to find the balance between
covering everything that is really important with a certain depth and not overwhelming or
intimidating with an endless volume of data and situations. I hope I have achieved this.
If you believe that the book can be improved in some way or you notice something
missing, don’t hesitate to write to me: publicaciones@arnalich.com
And remember, there is life out there… The computer screen should not stop you
from meeting the users!
About the Author
Santiago Arnalich
At 26 years old, he began as the coordinator of the Kabul Project CAWWS Water
Supply, providing water to 565,000 people, one of the biggest projects at the time. Since
then, he has designed improvements for more than a million people, including refugee
camps in Tanzania, the city of Meulaboh following the Tsunami, and the poor
neighborhoods of Santa Cruz, Bolivia.
Arnalich Water and Habitat is an organization that helps improve the impact of
humanitarian actors through training and consultancy in the fields of Water Supply and
Environmental Engineering.
Bibliography
www.arnalich.com/en/books.html
6. Santosh Kumar Garg (2003). Water Supply Engineering. 14º ed. Khanna
Publishers.