Sensitivity analysis to assess the relative importance of pipes in water distribution networks

Water distribution networks are not randomly constituted systems. On the contrary, their designs are closely related to their hydraulic performance. Recognizing the sundry and relative importance of the different pipes in a water distribution network may help in assessing their impact on the hydraulic performance of the network. This information, in turn, will be helpful in the different aspects of a water distribution network make-up, namely design, planning, control and management. In this paper we propose a methodology to evaluate the relative importance of the pipes in a water distribution network based on the quantification of the uncertainty of the data by means of an error limit analysis performed using sensitivity analysis. By making use of the mathematical model of the network, the estimated steady state together with uncertainty levels, that is to say, a fuzzy estimated steady state of the network can be obtained. We claim that the relative fuzziness of the different flowrates, which can be calculated with inexpensive computational cost, provides a good importance index for the pipes. We show by using an example, the application of this methodology.