A Comprehensive Framework to Evaluate Hydraulic and Water Quality Impacts of Pipe Breaks on Water Distribution Systems

Abstract

Pipe breaks have significant impacts on the hydraulic and water quality performance of water distribution systems (WDSs). Therefore, it is important to evaluate these impacts for developing effective strategies to ultimately minimize the consequences of these events. However, there has been surprisingly limited research focusing on impact evaluation for pipe breaks so far. To address this gap, this paper proposes a framework to comprehensively evaluate hydraulic and water quality impacts of pipe breaks on a WDS using six quantitative metrics. These metrics primarily focus on identifying (i) break outflow volume, (ii) water shortage, (iii) nodes with reduced service quality, (iv) pipes with a..