Experimental Investigation of Resilience and Pressure Management in Water Distribution Networks

An extensive experimental investigation into the pressure management and resilience of three water distribution network configurations is conducted including: fixed topology zones with fixed outlet pressure reducing valves (PRV), fixed topology zones with flow modulating PRVs, and a dynamic topology. Hydraulic data (128S/s) captures the network behaviour under normal conditions and failure, including artificial bursts generated by operating hydrants and a real burst that affected 8,000 properties. Under normal operation, a dynamic topology lowered pressure by 3.1% over a fixed topology with flow modulating PRVs. A dynamic topology maintained the supply of 1,400 properties during the real burst incident.