Calibration Model for Water Distribution Network Using Pressures Estimated by Artificial Neural Networks

• Published in: Water resources management Vol. 31; no. 13; pp. 4339 - 4351
• Main Authors: Meirelles, Gustavo, Manzi, Daniel, Brentan, Bruno, Goulart, Thaisa, Luvizotto, Edevar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.10.2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: algorithms; Artificial neural networks; Atmospheric Sciences; Calibration; Civil Engineering; Computer simulation; Data processing; Distribution; Distribution management; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Environment; equations; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Heuristic methods; Hydrogeology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Mathematical models; Neural networks; Objective function; Particle swarm optimization; Pressure; Roughness; Simulation; simulation models; Stress concentration; Water distribution; Water engineering; Water distribution networks; Pressure forecasting; Calibration model; PSO; Artificial neural networks
• ISSN: 0920-4741; 1573-1650
• DOI: 10.1007/s11269-017-1750-2

The success of hydraulic simulation models of water distribution networks is associated with the ability of these models to represent real systems accurately. To achieve this, the calibration phase is essential. Current calibration methods are based on minimizing the error between measured and simulated values of pressure and flow. This minimization is based on a search of parameter values to be calibrated, including pipe roughness, nodal demand, and leakage flow. The resulting hydraulic problem contains several variables. In addition, a limited set of known monitored pressure and flow values creates an indeterminate problem with more variables than equations. Seeking to address the lack of monitored data for the calibration of Water Distribution Networks (WDNs), this paper uses a meta-model based on an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to estimate pressure on all nodes of a network. The calibration of pipe roughness applies a metaheuristic search method called Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to minimize the objective function represented by the difference between simulated and forecasted pressure values. The proposed method is evaluated at steady state and over an extended period for a real District Metering Area (DMA), named Campos do Conde II, and the hypothetical network named C-town, which is used as a benchmark for calibration studies.