Object-oriented integrated algorithms for efficient water pipe network by modified Hardy Cross technique

In this work, object-oriented integrated algorithms for an efficient flow analysis of the water pipe network are developed. This is achieved by treating the pipe network as a graph data structure with its nodes as the graph’s nodes and the pipes as the edges. The algorithm for cycle (real cycle or pseudo-cycle) extraction has been developed using nested breadth-first search that gives ordered cycles. Pseudo-loops are found using the shortest path algorithm between the nodes. Pipes are initialized loop by loop using conservation of mass at nodes. A modified Hardy Cross method is used in the proposed work with third-order convergence. The friction factor is updated for every change in discharges. The pressure calculation has been done by the graph traversal algorithm between the reference nodes and node where the pressure is to be calculated using the energy equation. The pressure at all intermediate nodes is obtained in the course of the traversal. Balanced discharges and nodal pressure in the pipe network are compared with the simultaneous loop flow adjustment method and EPANET software. The proposed work gives more efficient flow analysis than the traditional Newton–Raphson-based techniques for complex networks.