| dc.description.abstract | Hydraulic simulation (HS) offers functionality that could greatly enhance the resolution of the
recurring technical challenges experienced by the Kampala Water distribution Network (KWN).
Unfortunately, HS technology is in its infancy in the developing world and Uganda in particular, and
thus no large-scale implementation of the technology exists to validate its applicability in the local
context.
This research therefore sought to implement the internationally recommended hydraulic modelling
(HM) guidelines and subject them to prevailing local conditions in the Kampala water distribution
network (using the Naguru area network as the prototype), in order to evaluate their suitability. The
process necessitated the construction of a large-scale, low-skeletonisation hydraulic model of a
selected representative study network; calibrating the model; and performing several post-calibration
accuracy assessment tests.
The construction process involved CAD to DXF drawing conversions, meter-aggregation and flowdistribution
demand allocation, database-to-model synchronisation and preliminary model
performance evaluation. Calibration and post-calibration field tests generated several datasets of
network hydraulic parameters that were necessary for the analysis of the model’s accuracy and
consistency.
The inferences indicated first; that large-scale hydraulic simulation can be feasibly effected for the
KWN using the internationally proposed guidelines, although, the calibrated hydraulic models are not
automatically immune to extraneous discrepancies. In addition, the achieved accuracy levels are
variable across the network, exceeding 50% variation in some locations.
Secondly, out of over 120 test locations, only 3 cases of gross discrepancy were observed, yet the
internationally proposed calibration limits were fulfilled by only 1 of the 6 test datasets. This revealed
that the existing international calibration-accuracy guidelines are mostly suitable for high-accuracy
simulation and may erroneously discard valid simulation data when the objective lies within moderate
accuracy, which is common for utilities in the developing world.
In general, the research findings derived from this study ultimately provide a yard-stick and platform
for the subsequent application of the technology throughout the KWN service area and Uganda in
general. | en_US |
