Integration of Graph Theory and GIS for District Metered Areas of Water Distribution Systems

Abstract:

The hydraulic path and the dissipated power path were presented, and the related minimum paths configuration of water distribution systems (WDS) were obtained by using the Dijkstra shortest path algorithm and visualized in GIS. The district metered areas (DMAs) were set up by mean of flow meters and valves considering pressure distribution, districts and roads. It is suggested that the flow meters should be installed in the minimum hydraulic paths and the valves should be installed in the minimum dissipated power paths to reduce the impact on the reliability due to pipes closed. The impacts of DMAs on WDS are evaluated by three types of performance indices including energy indices, statistical pressure indices and hydraulic indices. The DMAs structure of WDS is achieved and, the flows in different DMAs are shown.

Key words:graph theory; geographic information system (GIS); water distribution systems; district metered areas(DMAs)