Comparative Study of Pressure Control Modes Impact on Water Distribution System Performance

Four pressure control modes (CMs) for water distribution systems, which are: 1) fixed control (FC); 2) time-based control (TBC); 3) reactive control (RC); and 4) ideal predictive control (IC), are compared based on their performance in terms of reduction in i) leakage rate and ii) pressure fluctuation intensity. The comparison is performed for three real Canadian distribution networks. Pressure fluctuation intensity, pressure variations distribution, and leakage rate reduction are the performance indices computed for each CM. The impact of differences in elevation and pipe roughness are also assessed. It is shown that in all cases, the active CMs (IC and RC) are more effective than the passive ones (TBC and FC). A decrease in water loss and in pressure fluctuation intensity was obtained when adopting CMs other than FC. The highest benefits were provided by IC, followed by RC and TBC (e.g. reduction in leakage rates lower than 4% for TBC and up to 26% for IC and RC, compared with the fixed control mode). The benefits of active CMs are higher when the difference in nodes elevation is lower and when the pipe roughness is greater, both cases amplifying the relative impact of pipe friction on the pressure delivered to each node in the system.