Residual Chlorine Modeling Sensitivity to Different Decay Models in Optimized and Non-Optimized Water Distribution Networks

Water distribution networks (WDNs) are designed to comply with hydraulic and water quality parameters for appropriate operation. Methodologies for WDN optimization have been developed to achieve minimum cost designs, adhering to hydraulic conditions. The purpose of this study is to evaluate chlorine decay in 17 networks, comparing optimal and non-optimal designs, with the aim of defining if optimized designs lead to lower chlorine consumption in the networks. Chlorine consumption is modeled with different scenarios, coefficients, and decay models. Results indicate that consumption generally decreases in optimized networks, with few exceptions. Lastly, results of different bulk decay models are similar; however, wall decay results vary significantly depending on the model.