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Virginia Tech

Comparison and Simulation of a Water Distribution Network in EPANET and a New Generic Graph Trace Analysis Based Model

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

The main purpose of this study was to compare the Distributed Engineering Workstation (DEW) and EPANET models. These two models are fundamentally different in the approaches taken to simulate hydraulic systems. To better understand the calculations behind each models' hydraulic simulation, three solution methods were evaluated and compared. The three solution approaches were the Todini, Hardy-Cross, and DEW bisection methods. The Todini method was included in the study because of its similarities to EPANET's hydraulic solution method and the Hardy-Cross solution was included due to its similarities with the DEW approach. Each solution method was used to solve a simple looped network, and the hydraulic solutions were compared. It was determined that all three solution methods predicted flow values that were very similar. A different, more complex looped network from the solution method comparison was simulated using both EPANET and DEW. Since EPANET is a well established water distribution system model, it was considered the standard for the comparison with DEW. The predicted values from the simulation in EPANET and DEW were compared. This comparison offered insight into the functionality of DEW's hydraulic simulation component. The comparison determined that the DEW model is sensitive to the tolerance value chosen for a simulation. The flow predictions between the DEW and EPANET models became much closer when the tolerance value in DEW was decreased.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Environmental Planning
Department dc:contributor.department
Environmental Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2009

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Newbold, James Richard
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Gallagher, Daniel L.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Dietrich, Andrea M.
  • Widdowson, Mark A.

Subjects

dc:subject × 3

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-02082009-075711
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/31177

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Newbold, James Richard. Comparison and Simulation of a Water Distribution Network in EPANET and a New Generic Graph Trace Analysis Based Model. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/31177