Water Simulation Packages (WSP)

Lewis Rossman just announced the release on a New Maintenance Release of EPANET 2:

In preparation for the release of the Multi-Species Water Quality Modeling Extension to EPANET, we have just loaded a new maintenance update of EPANET, 2.00.11, to the new home page for EPANET: http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/wswrd/dw/epanet.html.

The only new features we added were to increase the allowable size of ID labels to 31 characters, to save the epanet2.ini settings file to the users Application Data folder so that the program is easier to deploy within networked environments, and to make several additional parameters available to the ENgetnodevalue function of the Toolkit that are required by the multi-species extension.

We have made a number of changes to the hydraulic engine code so that it can better handle combinations of control valves connected to one another. In particular, it now produces correct solutions for multi-valve regulator stations that have two or more PRVs connected in parallel. I want to thank Rod Allen of the Portland Water Bureau for his assistance with this. These changes have resulted in some networks requiring more trials than before to reach convergence, so keep this in mind when applying the new update to your existing models.

The full list of updates and bug fixes is available from the web site. A more complete overhaul of the program, including a fix for the scaling problem with the backdrop map, is still in preparation and may be ready for release by the end of the year.

Have you noticed the new web site EPANET.com? This new site states that it is:

Your one-stop source for software technology, news, and collaboration for the municipal water distribution modeling industry.

The site brings industry headlines, EPANet files download, few white papers, one book for sale and a registration form for a forum.

In the footer of the web page it is said that:

EPANET.com is not affiliated with or managed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency or any other governmental agency

So who is behind this web site?
Looking at the one book offered, “Advanced Water Distribution Modeling and Management “, the software link to “WaterCAD V8 XM“, the registration option to “WaterTalk” and the authors of the withe papers, it is clear that Haestad Methods (currently Bentley) is behind the site.

To make sure I have checked the domain registry for the owner of the epanet.com domain. Up until about a month ago the domain was registered under the name of Bentley. At this time the owner of the domain is hidden. I suspect that the owner did not change - but I could be wrong.

I have nothing against Bentley opening a site at EPANET.com but it would be only fair that they will disclose this fact.

During the last year, 277 posts were sent for 100 topics in the EPANet user-list.

The archive for all the posts can be found in the forums section.

Armando Barreto over at Zonum Solutions is looking for beta-testers for his new release - epa2kmz.

From Zonums Solutions web site:

Epa2kmz transforms NET Files to KMZ format. It allows to visualize Epanet projects in Google Earth, using the GE imagery as background.

Epa2kmz can transform the Network Map or the Network Map and the Hydraulic Analysis.

Epa2kmz wizard interface allows the user to navigate the process of transformation step by step, from the input file to the Google Earth visualization file. If the output visualization is not what you wanted, just click the back button and make the changes, no need to repeat to whole process.

Epa2kmz uses the EPANET Toolkit function library (Epanet2.dll) as the analysis engine. Also it incorporates functions and subroutines from the source code of EPANET.

From the EPA web site:

EPANET is used in homeland security research to model contamination threats to water systems. Historically, EPANET has been limited to tracking the dynamics of a single chemical transported through a network of pipes and storage tanks. EPANET did not consider interactions between bulk species in the water or the surface species fixed to the pipe wall.

Recently, the NHSRC released a research version of MS-EPANET (Multi-Species EPANET) that allows for the consideration of multiple interacting species in the bulk flow and on the pipe walls. The multi-species modeling extensions to EPANET include the following:

1. The capability to model multi-species reactions in pipes and tanks when reactions involve bulk and surface species reactions.
2. Modification of the EPANET input file format to enable it to read water quality dynamics expressions and to accommodate various other multi-specie interactions. This allows arbitrary mathematical expressions of reaction dynamics. The model then parses the expressions and stores and structures the data for efficient evaluation.
3. The extension incorporates Newton-Raphson and Runge-Kutta algorithms into its water quality modules to solve the differential-algebraic equations that describe the reaction dynamics.
4. Modification of the EPANET Programmer’s Toolkit to allow for specification of contaminant sources and qualities.

MS-EPANET will enable users to model free chlorine loss, the formation of disinfection byproducts, nitrification dynamics, disinfectant residuals, and adsorption on pipe walls. Homeland security researchers are particularly interested in modeling the fate and transport of contaminant threats in drinking water distribution systems.

The MS-EPANET software and User’s Guide is now available to researchers and consultants as part of a beta-testing program. The User’s Guide includes several example applications. By the end of 2006, a tested version of MS-EPANET will be freely available.

Armando Barreto, a student at the University of Arizona, wrote me about his new free tool will extract geometric data contained in ESRI-shape files into EPANet INP files. shp2epa was designed with an interface similar to dxf2epa for a familiar feeling for the user.

Continue Reading »
shp2epa utility conversion

News from Manuel López-Ibáñez:

Version 1.4 of EPANET Toolkit for GNU/Linux has been released on 27 June
2006.

This version of EPANET Toolkit is an adaptation of the original EPANET Toolkit version 2.00.10 to GNU/Linux with additional bug fixes and improvements. Nevertheless, source code should compile even on Windows environments (as it has been reported by some users). The purpose of making public my own version is that other researchers can benefit from the improvements and fixes, while the amount of testing of this
version of EPANET is increased. Therefore, any feedback will be welcome.

A complete list of changes and source code are available here.

General information is available here:

optiUnits (beta) is a freeware tool that will allow the user to convert an EPANet model from one set of units to a different one.

Usage:

1. Export your model from EPANet to an INP file.
2. Run optiUnits.
3. Click the File button and select the INP file.
4. From the drop-down box, select the unit set that you want to convert to.
5. Click the Convert button.
6. You are done!

Download: optiUnits.zip (~15KB). If you face any problem running the program try to use the full setup program which includes the runtime dlls: optiUnits_Setup.zip (~1,440KB)

Note #1: The [RULES] section is the only section not converted yet.

Note #2: This is a beta version so please send me any bug reports, comments and ideas. You can use the contact form here.

Manuel López-Ibáñez, who adapted the EPANET Toolkit version 2.00.10 to GNU/Linux, posted a note that it is possible to run the EPANET GUI in Linux.

This is done be using the GNU/Linux program called Wine HQ that can run Win32 executable files in Linux (and maybe in FreeBSD and SUN’s Solaris).

Please, check Wine documentation for more information.

If you want to discuss this issue please post on the water simulation forum.

ATS-Chester developed an interface to link EPA’s EPANET software with ESRI’s ArcGIS® software (it seems that it is an old version).

Applications:

• Water system modeling
• Water quality management
• Facility planning
• GIS integration
• User-friendly modeling

Features:

• Developed using ESRI’s latest ArcObjects technology.
• Adds a new toolbar to ArcGIS standard interface.
• Allows you to create and edit your EPANET model from inside GIS.
• Provides a synchronization tool to update existing models from GIS updates.
• Exports GIS layers as a backdrop for EPANET model.
• Allows displaying output results as a thematic map.
• ArcView 3.x version (AVNet also available).

For more information see ATS-Chester web site.

Book related to the subject: