Challenges in calibration of water distribution network: a case study of Ramnagar Elevated Service Reservoir command area in Nagpur City, India

Calibration of a hydraulic model is a challenging task as it considers the involvement of a large number of uncertain parameters. There are some parameters like length and diameter of pipes, for which fairly accurate values can be obtained. As with all hydraulic models, water demands are one of the main parameters that cause the most uncertainty in the model outputs. The calibration of the water demands is usually not feasible, which is attributable to the limited quantity of available measurements in most real water networks. However, some parameters like nodal demands and pipe roughness coefficients are estimated close to the actual values. Various types of valves are used for flow control by throttling. Hence, their setting in the field is also an important input to the model. Having more precise data helps in reducing time and results in better calibration as presented in the case study of one hydraulic zone served from Ramnagar Elevated Service Reservoir (ESR) (Zone II) in Nagpur City, Maharashtra State, India. This paper aims at presenting the complexities and challenges involved in calibration of the study area. It further describes the entire process from collection of the required data to the calibration of the network.