Comparison of tree and grid networks in the design of urban drinking water distribution system

Existing urban drinking water networks may not be sufficient due to the expansion of residential areas due to increases in industry and population. In addition to supplying the water from its source, it is also important to deliver it to the points of use. Clean and adequate water from its source should be delivered to the areas of use in the same quantity and quality as much as possible. To achieve this, pipe materials and pipe diameters should be selected appropriately corresponding to network pressure and velocity values. While making hydraulic calculations of drinking water networks, networks are considered as tree and grid networks. In a branch network, the current comes from only one pipe to each node. Therefore, since there is only one pipe supply, any failure in this pipe will cause water to be cut off in all pipes fed by this pipe. On the other hand; in the network system, all pipes are combined with each other, preventing the formation of a physical dead point. Any node can provide flow from more than one direction. In this case, in case of any failure in one pipe, the water flow can be provided from the other pipes. Optimum sizing of drinking water systems based on hydraulic calculations will reduce costs to more reasonable levels. As a result, it will contribute to the country's economy. Within the scope of this thesis, the effect of the tree and grid network types mentioned briefly above on the design economy in urban drinking water network design has been evaluated. For this purpose, on a hypothetical network, it has been investigated how the network cost is affected by the branching of the grid network considered. As a result of different designs made with the EPANET software, which has free access over the web, it has been revealed that as the branching rate increases, the cost of the network increases. In conclusion, the grid network state has given the most economical result