A Feasibility Study on Application of Eulerian Path Concept to Design of Water Supply Pipe Network

Objectives : This study attempted to investigated the advantages that can be obtained by applying the concept of ‘Eulerian path’ called ‘one-touch drawing’ to the block type water supply network which actually has been operating in Korea.Methods : This study applied the ‘Eulerian path’ concept to an actual water supply network, and suggested simple C language program for searching adjacency matrix. Five Eulerian path based design scenarios were derived using the C language program. The pressure and residual chlorine distribution pattern of five design scenarios and the existing small block network were simulated using EPANET and compared each other. Also, by comparing all scenarios construction costs, the economic feasibility related to initial investment cost was reviewed.Results and Discussion : Five Eulerian path scenarios with two or more closed pipe loops were suggested using the C language program checking out adjacency matrix. One of them(scenario 5) consists of 7 closed pipes that can supply water to all nodes even if the number of pipes is reduced by about 10, and an increase in residual chlorine concentration of about 0.01 mg/L can be predicted at each node. In addition, it is expected that the initial investment cost of Scenario 5 can be reduced by about 23%, compared to the initial investment cost of the existing small block.Conclusion : Therefore, by applying the concept of an Eulerian path to the design of a water supply pipe network, it is possible to economically eliminate meaningless pipes while maintaining the redundancy of water supply.