A resilience-based practical platform and novel index for rapid evaluation of urban water distribution network using hybrid simulation

This article proposes a novel index along with a user-friendly platform for resilience evaluation of the urban water distribution networks (WDN). WDN is of great importance in preserving the safety and sustainability of communities and cities. Resilience of a given system results in its sustainability. In recent years, many studies have focused on resilient urban WDN. However, these studies did not provide a comprehensive evaluation index and platform that could simultaneously consider hydraulic analysis, resilience parameters, and significant uncertainties. In this study, a novel resilience index was defined, and a user-friendly and practical platform (REWAT) was developed to calculate the resilience index using a combination of hydraulic and discrete event simulation concurrently. This platform was applied to a real WDN. Furthermore, new categorization of strategies was proposed to clarify the improvement strategies of WDNs resilience. Two of these strategies were applied to the case study, and their efficacy was investigated. The finding would provide a comprehensive insight and understanding for decision-makers and authorities concerning WDNs resilience. The proposed index and platform could open a new window for managers to allocate budgets more efficiently, prioritize different cities, and simulate the policies and decisions efficacy on WDNs resilience before any expenditure or actual execution.