COVER STORY
INNOVATIONS IN HYDRAULIC MODELLING
NO SMART WATER UTILITY WITHOUT MAKING A START Establishing a hydraulic model is the start to leveraging smart technologies in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is spawning concepts like digital infrastructure twins, the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence, cloud processing and real-time data transfer from electronic metering devices and sensors.
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ver the past 30 years, GLS Consulting has established hydraulic models of real world, physical water distribution systems for 62 of the 144 municipal water services authorities in South Africa. The total length of water pipelines modelled is 91 059 km with a total water consumption of just over six billion litres per day (6 000 Mℓ/day). The population in these 62 municipalities amounts to 30.2 million Establishment of a digital model of the infrastructure
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people, which represents half of the South African population. Within smaller municipalities and large rural ones, it is often found that the information required to support the establishment of hydraulic models is wholly inadequate. However, through close collaboration – and with engineering adaptation and innovation – new and exciting (often disruptive) approaches to modelling have been developed by GLS for municipalities and water boards to solve these challenges.
Establishment of a water consumption database (spatial)
FIGURE 1 Establishment of a hydraulic model
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IMIESA July 2022
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Hydraulic model (start of a digital twin)
The complete modelling process entails building a digital or computer model of the infrastructure, and then developing a water consumption database. Applying the consumption database to the infrastructure model results in the creation of a hydraulic model. These steps are shown in Figure 1. The journey to establish a hydraulic model (about a year), embrace technology and become a smart water service provider is less daunting when viewed as an incremental process. Each step in the journey adds value to municipal engineers and managers by offering increased access to data, which leads to more knowledge and better decision-making. The foundation that this journey is built on is a wellestablished, geospatially accurate hydraulic model that reflects real-world assets and system operations, as feasibly as possible.
ESTABLISHMENT OF A SMART DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE MODEL Data collection All existing sources of information pertaining to the water distribution system need to be collected and assimilated in the hydraulic modelling software. These sources can
