Analysis of water distribution networks using MATLAB and Excel spreadsheet: Q‐based methods

Abstract

With the emergence of computers, literatures of water distribution network (WDN), and application of computer‐aided programs for modeling WDNs have been significantly improved. Although MATLAB and Excel spreadsheet provide suitable facilities for both academic and practical purposes, the comprehensive application of these programs in WDN analysis has not been addressed. In this paper, the step‐by‐step implementation of three Q‐based methods is presented for solving WDNs using these programs. In order to focus more on the educational aspects of computer application, a simple pipe network is analyzed using these Q‐based methods. However, as basics of the implementation are sufficiently covered, the provided codes can be improved to analyze more complicated pipe networks. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 25:277–289, 2017; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae; DOI 10.1002/cae.21796

PHP‐based collaborative education and management system for water hydraulic laboratory

“…As a result of their increased availability and rapid development, computer‐aided tools have gained great relevance in education . Many up‐to‐date research studies have been developed to apply computer for water hydraulic materials on the educational aspects in recent year, such as the algorithm for teaching hydraulics of branching pipes and the software and methods for water distribution networks. And their survey results all showed these computer‐aided tools helped to reinforce the students understanding and improve learning efficiency.…”

İçme Suyu Şebekeleri̇ni̇n Kararli Durum Anali̇zi̇ İçi̇n Küresel Gradyen Algori̇tmasi Ve Ters Matri̇s Yöntemi̇ni̇n Uygunluğunun Değerlendi̇ri̇lmesi̇

“…In any case, learning the operating aspects of WDNs could be possible while mathematical background of WDN design problems is overlooked [6]. In the last few years, the instructors realized the importance of mathematical aspects of the design problem and started to develop their own methods of teaching the mathematical background of WDN design [19][20][21]. The motivation for this study comes from the need of easily teaching the mathematical background of WDN design problems.…”

An MS Excel tool for water distribution network design in environmental engineering education

“…It includes a simplified programming language (Visual Basic for Applications [VBA]), and for this reason, several researchers pointed out that MS Excel (and VBA) is the most suitable tool for engineering education within the scope of Bologna Process . Considering complicated nature of WDN analysis, MS Excel is a perfect tool for teaching hydraulics of WDNs, and several researchers applied Excel‐based solutions to the problem of WDN analysis .…”

“…Recently, Niazkar and Afzali reported the use of MS Excel as an interface to a MATLAB code for WDN analysis. Although MATLAB could provide much faster solutions than MS Excel VBA, the software requires an installed copy of MATLAB, which may not be available to all students.…”

“…Considering the fact that most of students who own a personal computer also own at least a student license of MS Excel and that MS Excel VBA is recognized as the most suitable tool for engineering education by a great number of researchers/teachers, a VBA program could be more helpful for teaching WDN analysis. Besides, several tools for teaching WDN hydraulics perform only steady‐state analysis of a given WDN. Therefore, new tools are required for teaching extended period simulations of WDNs.…”