Simple Approach for Hydraulic Simulation on Unrestricted Flow of Intermittent Water Supply Network Using Pressure-Driven Analyses

The water supplied in intermittent water supply (IWS) systems varies based on pressure and storage volume at the supply node, leading to fluctuating demands. This variability challenges conventional demand-based simulation software, which assumes fixed values. The effective management of water infrastructure requires accounting for these fluctuations to accurately model and optimize IWS systems. Various methods are used to analyze IWS systems by adding fictitious elements to demand nodes (in demand-driven analysis software) to match actual uncontrolled orifice-type supply. This work (1) presents a method to calculate maximum nodal demand based on house service connections, and (2) demonstrates its application in hydraulic simulations. The pressure-driven analysis (PDA) establishes minimum and required pressure bounds, preventing unrealistic supply scenarios. The supply rate for each time step of the analyzed network shows an 8% deviation between the proposed approach and the reservoir approach. The Lorenz curve provides a quick visual treat of inequity, whereas the Gini index measures supply inequity when the network operates under an IWS. The Gini index indicates that the chosen network exhibits a 67% inequity in supply distribution among the nodes.