Burkhardt Jonathan B, Minor John, Platten William E, Shang Feng, Murray Regan
Environmental Engineer, US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, 26 W. Martin Luther King Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45268.
Student Services Contractor, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, 26 W. Martin Luther King Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45268.
J Water Resour Plan Manag. 2023 Apr;149(4). doi: 10.1061/jwrmd5.wreng-5888.
Tools used to predict hydraulics and water quality within premise plumbing systems have gained recent interest. An open-source Python-based tool-PPMtools-for modeling and analyzing premise plumbing systems with WNTR or EPANET is presented. A relative water age-the time water has spent in a home-study using three real-world single-family homes was used to demonstrate PPMtools. Results showed that increased use-more people or higher flow fixtures-led to a general decrease in relative water ages. However, even with more use, one user could still experience water for a drinking activity with a relative water age equal to, or longer than, the duration of the longest stagnant period (sleeping or absence from home). Simulations also showed that the general relative water ages increased if the homes were plumbed with larger diameter piping [19.1 mm (3/4 in.) versus 12.7 mm (1/2 in.)]. Hot water heaters were found to have the largest impact on relative water age. Smaller volume uses generally had more variability in relative water ages, while larger volume uses (e.g., showering) resulted in generally low relative water ages with less variability because larger uses fully replaced water in the home with water from the main. This study highlights the potential for using PPMtools to explore more complex water quality modeling within premise plumbing systems.
用于预测住宅内部管道系统水力和水质的工具近来受到了关注。本文介绍了一种基于Python的开源工具——PPMtools，用于使用WNTR或EPANET对住宅内部管道系统进行建模和分析。使用相对水龄（即水在家庭中停留的时间），通过对三个实际单户住宅的研究来展示PPMtools。结果表明，使用量增加（更多的人或更高流量的装置）会导致相对水龄普遍下降。然而，即使使用量增加，一个用户在进行饮水活动时，其相对水龄仍可能等于或长于最长停滞期（睡觉或外出不在家）的时长。模拟还表明，如果住宅采用更大直径的管道（19.1毫米（3/4英寸）对比12.7毫米（1/2英寸））进行管道铺设，总体相对水龄会增加。发现热水器对相对水龄的影响最大。较小用水量的相对水龄通常变化更大，而较大用水量（如淋浴）导致的相对水龄通常较低且变化较小，因为较大用水量会用来自主管道的水完全替换家中的水。本研究强调了使用PPMtools在住宅内部管道系统中探索更复杂水质建模的潜力。
