Study on hydraulic vulnerability and risk assessment of water distribution system

The factors that impacted hydraulic vulnerability of water distribution system are discussed, and a quantitative hydraulic vulnerability and risk assessment model is presented in this paper. In this model, EPANET is employed as the hydraulic solver of water networks and Monte-Carlo stochastic simulation is incorporated for randomly generating failure scenarios of both pipes and water plants. Finally, the proposed methodology is used to carry out vulnerability and risk assessment in a real-life water distribution system of a high-tech zone in North China. The results show the high efficiency of the model. The research could provide a theoretical basis to the water supply enterprises and help them to identify the vulnerable area, evaluate risk of the consumers and develop specific plan for risk reduction.