Modelling errors, entropy and the hydraulic reliability of water distribution systems

This paper reports on an investigation of the possible influence of modelling errors on the relationship between the entropy and hydraulic reliability of water distribution systems. The errors are due to minor differences between the design optimisation and subsequent simulation models, which lead to small discrepancies between the capacity of the network and the required supply. Pressure-dependent analysis was used for the hydraulic simulations. It is shown that any correlation between the redundancy or undercapacity due to the modelling errors and the hydraulic reliability is insignificant. The results, therefore, provide yet more evidence that the entropy-reliability relationship is strong.