Identification of Unintended Isolation Segments in Water Distribution Networks Using a Link-by-Link Adjacency Matrix

摘要

In water distribution networks (WDNs), pipe failure is the most frequent type of equipment malfunction, resulting in water supply suspension. To determine the water suspension area and to properly plan restoration work, the accurate identification of isolated subsystems with respect to valve locations is critical. The water suspension area can be divided into intended and unintended isolations, depending on the valve layout. This technical note discusses the conventional method of searching the valve-controlled isolation areas and specifically examines the weakness of the unintended isolation (UI) search algorithm that uses a node-by-node adjacency matrix. In this study, we propose a new search algorithm using a link-by-link adjacency matrix to identify the UI segments. Demonstrations on branch and loop networks show that the new approach correctly identifies the UI in various operating conditions. The proposed method is expected to replace the conventional method and can be applied in various valve-controlled segment analyses, such as optimal valve placement, real-time valve control for dynamic WDN operation, and postaccident pipe recovery planning. (c) 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.