Modelling the Steady State of Sewage Networks as a Support Tool for Their Planning and Analysis

• Main Authors: Grażyna Petriczek, Jan Studziński, Lucyna Bogdan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wrocław University of Science and Technology 2015-01-01
• Series: Operations Research and Decisions
• Online Access: http://orduser.pwr.wroc.pl/DownloadFile.aspx?aid=1169

Fundamental questions connected with the modelling of communal sewage networks have been considered and formulas used to model the functioning of the basic network have been analyzed. The problem described concerns gravitational sewage networks divided by nodes into branches and sectors. Simulation of the steady state functioning of sewage networks is commonly carried out on the basis of nomograms in the form of charts, in which the relations between network parameters like channel diameters, flow rates, hydraulic slopes and flow velocities are described. In traditional design, the values of such parameters are simply read from such nomogram chart tables. Another way of simulating the functioning of a network is the use of professional software, like SWMM, that models sewage flows along the channels by means of differential equations de-scribing the movement of fluids. In both approaches, the user is a mechanical operator of a "black box" procedure. In this paper, another way of simulating the functioning of sewage net-works has been presented. Numerical solutions of nonlinear equations describing the physical phenomena of sewage flows are applied and explained. The presented algorithms were developed to model the steady state of a sewage network enabling a quick analysis of the network parameters and the possibility of fast, simple and comprehensible network modeling and design. (original abstract)