Distribution System Hydraulic Modeling Analysis Examines System Issues and Identifies Operational Solutions

摘要

The Town of Framingham Public Works Department has contended with a large number of service and main breaks. Between January 2013 and the end of March 2014 the Town repaired over 150 water main and service breaks. Recently, Town officials, municipal employees, and consulting engineers worked together to update an eight-year-old water distribution model and perform transient analyses to identify factors contributing to water main breaks. Model test runs revealed that the age of the system, poor pipe material quality and incidents of water hammer were responsible for most of the water main breaks. Based on these findings, the Town formulated a plan to reduce the frequency of water main breaks by redrawing zone boundaries, replacing old pipe, and planning for strategic improvements going forward..