Review of Water Distribution Systems Modelling and Performance Analysis Softwares

Abstract

Water is a critical and crucial substance for sustenance all over the world. The need for water distribution systems to satisfy increasing demand and also to satisfy quality requirements has birthed a surging need to model real-life situations in order to access the workability of Water distribution system (WDSs) and their ability to operate efficiently. Through the review of the analysis of modelling software and performance analysis, it was deduced that different licensed software and freeware products are available for design and model of various categories of WDSs, ranging from simple to complex, realistic and even hypothetical. It was discovered that software with licenses offers versatility, flexibility and precision in modeling various categories of hydraulic models with various features over software that are open for all. Therefore, the decision on which software to use for the design of water distribution systems is predicated on software precision, the overall project cost, software - required data, complexity of system, aspect of system to be modelled (quality, demand, valve operation and location etc.) software specificity related to the types of distribution systems that it can manage and computational and hydraulic criterion.