Release Notes for EPANET 2.2 (Draft)

This document describes the changes and updates that have been made in version 2.2 of EPANET.

Thread-Safe API Functions

A duplicate set of API functions has been provided that allow multiple EPANET projects to be analyzed concurrently in a thread-safe manner. These functions maintain the same name as the original but use a EN_ prefix instead of EN. In addition, the first argument to each of these functions is a handle that identifies the particular project being analyzed. For example, instead of writing:

ENgetnodevalue(nodeIndex, EN_ELEVATION, &elev)

one would use:

EN_getnodevalue(ph, nodeIndex, EN_ELEVATION, &elev)

where ph is the handle assigned to the project.

Two new functions have been added to the API to manage the creation and deletion of project handles. EN_createproject creates a new project along with its handle, while EN_deleteproject deletes a project. An example of using the thread-safe version of the API is shown below:

#include "epanet2_2.h"
int runEpanet(char *finp, char *frpt)
{
    EN_Project ph = 0;
    int err;
    err = EN_createproject(&ph);
    if (err) return err;
    err = EN_open(ph, finp, frpt, "");
    if (!err) err = EN_solveH(ph);
    if (!err) err = EN_report(ph);
    EN_close(ph);
    EN_deleteproject(ph);
    return err;
}

Prototypes of the thread-safe functions appear in the epanet2_2.h header file while epanet2.h contains prototypes of the legacy-style API functions. The enumerated constants used with both types of functions have been moved to epanet2_enums.h.

Network Building By Code

API users now have the ability to build a complete EPANET network model using just function calls, without the need to open an EPANET-formatted input file. All types of network objects can be created and have their properties set using these calls, including both simple and rule-based controls. Here is an example of building a simple 2-node, 1-pipe network just through code:

#include "epanet2_2.h"
int buildandrunEpanet(char *rptfile)
{
    // Create and initialize a project using gpm for flow
    // units and the Hazen-Williams formula for head loss
    EN_Project ph = 0;
    int err, index;
    err = EN_createproject(&ph);
    if (err) return err;
    EN_init(ph, rptfile, "", EN_GPM, EN_HW);
    
    //Add a junction node with 710 ft elevation and 500 gpm demand
    EN_addnode(ph, "J1", EN_JUNCTION, &index);
    EN_setjuncdata(ph, index, 710, 500, "");
    
    // Add a reservoir node at 800 ft elevation
    EN_addnode(ph, "R1", EN_RESERVOIR, &index);
    EN_setnodevalue(ph, index, EN_ELEVATION, 800);
    
    // Add a 5280 ft long, 14-inch pipe with C-factor of 100
    // from the reservoir to the demand node
    EN_addlink(ph, "P1", EN_PIPE, "R1", "J1", &index);
    EN_setpipedata(ph, index, 5280, 14, 100, 0);
    
    // Solve for hydraulics and report nodal results
    EN_setreport(ph, "NODES ALL");
    err = EN_solveH(ph);
    if (!err) err = EN_report(ph);
    
    // Close and delete the project
    EN_close(ph);
    EN_deleteproject(ph);
    return err;
}

Instead of using EN_open to load data from a file, EN_init is used to initialize a project with the names of its report and binary files, and its flow units and head loss formula. The legacy-style API has a complementary set of functions for building networks from code.

Additional Convergence Parameters

Two new analysis options have been added to provide more rigorous convergence criteria for EPANET's hydraulic solver. In the API they are named EN_HEADERROR and EN_FLOWCHANGE while in the [OPTIONS] section of an EPANET input file they are named HEADERROR and FLOWCHANGE, respectively.

EN_HEADERROR is the maximum head loss error that any network link can have for hydraulic convergence to occur. A link's head loss error is the difference between the head loss found as a function of computed flow in the link (such as by the Hazen-Williams equation for a pipe) and the difference in computed heads for the link's end nodes. The units of this parameter are feet (or meters for SI units). The default value of 0 indicates that no head error limit applies.

EN_FLOWCHANGE is the largest change in flow that any network element (link, emitter, or pressure-dependent demand) can have for hydraulic convergence to occur. It is specified in whatever flow units the project is using. The default value of 0 indicates that no flow change limit applies.

These new parameters augment the current EN_ACCURACY option which always remains in effect. In addition, both EN_HEADERROR and EN_FLOWCHANGE can be used as parameters in the EN_getstatistic (or ENgetstatistic) function to retrieve their computed values (even when their option values are 0) after a hydraulic solution has been completed.

More Efficient Node Re-ordering

EPANET's hydraulic solver requires solving a system of linear equations over a series of iterations until a set of convergence criteria are met. The coefficient matrix of this linear system is square and symmetric. It has a row for each network node and a non-zero off-diagonal coefficient for each link. The numerical effort needed to solve the linear system can be reduced if the nodes are re-ordered so that the non-zero coefficients cluster more tightly around the diagonal.

EPANET's original node re-ordering scheme has been replaced by the more efficient Multiple Minimum Degree (MMD) algorithm. On a series of eight networks ranging in size from 7,700 to 100,000 nodes MMD reduced the solution time for a single period (steady state) hydraulic analysis, where most of the work is for node-reordering, by an average of 55%. Since MMD did not reduce the time needed to solve the linear equations generated at each iteration of the hydraulic solver longer extended period simulations will not exhibit a similar speedup.

Improved Handling of Near-Zero Flows

EPANET's hydraulic solver can generate an ill-conditioned solution matrix when pipe flows approach zero unless some adjustment is made (i.e., as a pipe's flow approaches 0 its head loss gradient also approaches 0 causing its reciprocal, which is used to form the solution matrix's coefficients, to approach infinity). EPANET 2.0 used an arbitrary cutoff on head loss gradient to prevent it from becoming 0. This approach doesn't allow a pipe to follow any head loss v. flow relation in the region below the cutoff and can produce incorrect solutions for some networks (see Estrada et al., 2009).

The hydraulic solver has been modified to use a linear head loss v. flow relation for flows approaching zero. For the Darcy-Weisbach equation, the linear Hagen-Poiseuille formula is used for laminar flow where the Reynolds Number is <= 2000. For the Hazen-Williams and Chezy-Manning equations, a flow limit is established for each pipe, equal to the flow that produces the EPANET 2 gradient cutoff. For flows below this a linear head loss relation is used whose gradient always equals the cutoff. EPANET 2.2 is now able to correctly solve the examples presented in Estrada et al. (2009) as well as those in Gorev et al., (2013) and Elhay and Simpson (2011).

Pressure Dependent Demands

EPANET has always employed a Demand Driven Analysis (DDA) when modeling network hydraulics. Under this approach nodal demands at a given point in time are fixed values that must be delivered no matter what nodal heads and link flows are produced by a hydraulic solution. This can result in situations where required demands are satisfied at nodes that have negative pressures - a physical impossibility.

To address this issue EPANET has been extended to use a Pressure Driven Analysis (PDA) if so desired. Under PDA, the demand D delivered at a node depends on the node's available pressure P according to:

D = Dfull * [ (P - Pmin) / (Preq - Pmin) ]^Pexp

where Dfull is the full demand required, Pmin is the pressure below which demand is zero, Preq is the pressure required to deliver the full required demand and Pexp is an exponent. When P < Pmin demand is 0 and when P > Preq demand equals Dfull.

To implement pressure driven analysis four new parameters have been added to the [OPTIONS] section of the EPANET input file:

Parameter	Description	Default
`DEMAND MODEL`	either DDA or PDA	DDA
`MINIMUM PRESSURE`	value for Pmin	0
`REQUIRED PRESSURE`	value for Preq	0.1
`PRESSURE EXPONENT`	value for Pexp	0.5

These parameters can also be set and retrieved in code using the following API functions

int ENsetdemandmodel(int modelType, double pMin, double pReq, double pExp);
int ENgetdemandmodel(int *modelType, double *pMin, double *pReq, double *pExp);

for the legacy API and

int EN_setdemandmodel(EN_Project ph, int modelType, double pMin, double pReq, double pExp);
int EN_getdemandmodel(EN_Project ph, int *modelType, double *pMin, double *pReq, double *pExp);

for the thread-safe API. Some additional points regarding the new PDA option are:

If no DEMAND MODEL and its parameters are specified then the analysis defaults to being demand driven (DDA).
This implementation of PDA assumes that the same parameters apply to all nodes in the network. Extending the framework to allow different parameters for specific nodes is left as a future feature to implement.
Preq must be at least 0.1 (either psi or m) higher than Pmin to avoid numerical issues caused by having too steep a demand curve.
Using EN_DEFICIENTNODES as the argument to EN_getstatistic (or ENgetstatistic) will retrieve the number of nodes that are pressure deficient. These are nodes with positive required demand whose pressure is below 0 under DDA or below Preq under PDA.
Using EN_DEMANDREDUCTION as an argument will retrieve the total percent reduction of demands at pressure deficient nodes under PDA.
Using EN_DEMANDDEFICIT with the EN_getnodevalue (or ENgetnodevalue) function will return the amount of demand reduction produced by a PDA at any particular node.

Tank Overflows

EPANET has always prevented tanks from overflowing by closing any links that supply inflow to a full tank. A new option EN_CANOVERFLOW, has been added to the list of Tank node properties. When set to 1 it will allow its tank to overflow when it becomes full. The spillage rate is returned in the tank's EN_DEMAND property. The default value for EN_CANOVERFLOW is 0 indicating that the tank cannot overflow.

For the input file, a new field has been appended to the data supplied for each tank in the [TANKS] section of the file. A value of YES indicates that the tank can over flow while NO (the default) indicates that it cannot. For the volume curve field that precedes it, an asterisk (*) can be used if the tank does not utilize a volume curve.

Improved Water Quality Mass Balance

As described by Davis et al. (2018) EPANET's water quality simulations can result in some significant mass balance errors when modeling short term mass injections (errors are much smaller for continuous source flows). The entire water quality engine has been re-written to eliminate these errors. It still uses the Lagrangian Time Driven transport method but now analyzes each network node in topologically sorted order rather than in arbitrary order.

A Mass Balance Report now appears the end of a simulation's Status Report that lists the various components (inflow, outflow, reaction) that comprise the network's overall mass balance. In addition EN_MASSBALANCE can be used as a parameter in the EN_getstatistic (or ENgetstatistic) function to retrieve the Mass Balance Ratio (Total Outflow Mass / Total Inflow Mass) at any point during a water quality simulation.

With this change EPANET 2.2 now produces perfect mass balances when tested against the networks used in Davis et al. (2018).

New API functions

Function	Description
`EN_createproject`	Creates a new EPANET project
`EN_deleteproject`	Deletes an EPANET project
`EN_init`	Initializes an EPANET project
`EN_setflowunits`	Sets the project's flow units
`EN_addnode`	Adds a new node to a project
`EN_addlink`	Adds a new link to a project
`EN_addcontrol`	Adds a new simple control to a project
`EN_addrule`	Adds a new control rule to a project
`EN_deletenode`	Deletes a node from the project
`EN_deletelink`	Deletes a link from the project
`EN_deletepattern`	Deletes a time pattern from the project
`EN_deletecurve`	Deletes a data curve from the project
`EN_deletecontrol`	Deletes a simple control from the project
`EN_deleterule`	Deletes a rule-based control from the project
`EN_setnodeid`	Changes the ID name for a node
`EN_setjuncdata`	Sets values for a junction's parameters
`EN_settankdata`	Sets values for a tank's parameters
`EN_setlinkid`	Changes the ID name for a link
`EN_setlinknodes`	Sets a link's start- and end-nodes
`EN_setlinktype`	Changes the type of a specific link
`EN_setpipedata`	Sets values for a pipe's parameters
`EN_getdemandmodel`	Retrieves the type of demand model in use
`EN_setdemandmodel`	Sets the type of demand model to use
`EN_adddemand`	Adds a new demand category to a node
`EN_deletedemand`	Deletes a demand category from a node
`EN_getdemandindex`	Finds a demand category's index given its name
`EN_getdemandname`	Gets the name of a node's demand category
`EN_setdemandname`	Sets the name of a node's demand category
`EN_setdemandpattern`	Assigns a time pattern to a node's demand category
`EN_setpatternid`	Changes the ID name of a time pattern
`EN_setcurveid`	Changes the ID name of a data curve
`EN_getcurvetype`	Gets a curve's type
`EN_setheadcurveindex`	Sets the index of a head curve used by a pump
`EN_getruleinfo`	Gets the number of elements in a rule-based control
`EN_getruleid`	Gets the name assigned to a rule-based control
`EN_getpremise`	Gets the contents of a premise in a rule-based control
`EN_setpremise`	Sets the contents of a premise in a rule-based control
`EN_setpremiseindex`	Sets the index of an object in a premise of a rule-based control
`EN_setpremisestatus`	Sets the status of an object in a premise of a rule-based control
`EN_setpremisevalue`	Sets the value of a property in a premise of a rule-based control
`EN_getthenaction`	Gets the contents of a THEN action in a rule-based control
`EN_setthenaction`	Sets the contents of a THEN action in a rule-based control
`EN_getelseaction`	Gets the contents of an ELSE action in a rule-based control
`EN_setelseaction`	Sets the contents of an ELSE action in a rule-based control
`EN_setrulepriority`	Sets the priority of a rule-based control
`EN_gettitle`	Gets a project's title
`EN_settitle`	Sets a project's title
`EN_getcomment`	Gets the descriptive comment assigned to an object
`EN_setcomment`	Assigns a descriptive comment to an object
`EN_clearreport`	Clears the contents of a project's report file
`EN_copyreport`	Copies the contents of a project's report file
In addition to these new functions, a tank's volume curve `EN_VOLCURVE` can be set using `EN_setnodevalue` and `EN_setlinkvalue` can now be used to set the following pump properties:

EN_PUMP_POWER (constant power rating)
EN_PUMP_HCURVE (head characteristic curve)
EN_PUMP_ECURVE (efficiency curve)
EN_PUMP_ECOST (average energy price)
EN_PUMP_EPAT (energy pricing pattern)
EN_LINKPATTERN (speed setting pattern)

Access to the following global energy options have been added to EN_getoption and EN_setoption:

EN_GLOBALEFFIC (global pump efficiency)
EN_GLOBALPRICE (global average energy price per kW-Hour)
EN_GLOBALPATTERN (global energy price pattern)
EN_DEMANDCHARGE (price per maximum kW of energy consumption)

New API Constants

Node value types:

EN_CANOVERFLOW
EN_DEMANDDEFICIT

Link value types:

EN_PUMP_STATE
EN_PUMP_EFFIC
EN_PUMP_POWER
EN_PUMP_HCURVE
EN_PUMP_ECURVE
EN_PUMP_ECOST
EN_PUMP_EPAT

Count types:

EN_RULECOUNT

Head loss formula:

EN_HW
EN_DW
EN_CM

Hydraulic option types:

EN_HEADERROR
EN_FLOWCHANGE
EN_HEADLOSSFORM
EN_GLOBALEFFIC
EN_GLOBALPRICE
EN_GLOBALPATTERN
EN_DEMANDCHARGE
EN_SP_GRAVITY
EN_SP_VISCOS
EN_EXTRA_ITER
EN_CHECKFREQ
EN_MAXCHECK
EN_DAMPLIMIT

Quality option types:

EN_SP_DIFFUS
EN_BULKORDER
EN_WALLORDER
EN_TANKORDER
EN_CONCENLIMIT

Simulation statistic types:

EN_MAXHEADERROR
EN_MAXFLOWCHANGE
EN_MASSBALANCE
EN_DEFICIENTNODES
EN_DEMANDREDUCTION

Action code types:

EN_UNCONDITIONAL
EN_CONDITIONAL

Curve types:

EN_VOLUME_CURVE
EN_PUMP_CURVE
EN_EFFIC_CURVE
EN_HLOSS_CURVE
EN_GENERIC_CURVE

Demand model types:

EN_DDA
EN_PDA

Documentation

Doxygen files have been created to generate a complete Users Guide for version 2.2's API. The guide's format is similar to the original EPANET Programmer's Toolkit help file and can be produced as a set of HTML pages, a Windows help file or a PDF document.

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ReleaseNotes2_2.md

ReleaseNotes2_2.md

Release Notes for EPANET 2.2 (Draft)

Thread-Safe API Functions

Network Building By Code

Additional Convergence Parameters

More Efficient Node Re-ordering

Improved Handling of Near-Zero Flows

Pressure Dependent Demands

Tank Overflows

Improved Water Quality Mass Balance

New API functions

New API Constants

Node value types:

Link value types:

Count types:

Head loss formula:

Hydraulic option types:

Quality option types:

Simulation statistic types:

Action code types:

Curve types:

Demand model types:

Documentation

Authors contributing to this release:

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ReleaseNotes2_2.md

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Release Notes for EPANET 2.2 (Draft)

Thread-Safe API Functions

Network Building By Code

Additional Convergence Parameters

More Efficient Node Re-ordering

Improved Handling of Near-Zero Flows

Pressure Dependent Demands

Tank Overflows

Improved Water Quality Mass Balance

New API functions

New API Constants

Node value types:

Link value types:

Count types:

Head loss formula:

Hydraulic option types:

Quality option types:

Simulation statistic types:

Action code types:

Curve types:

Demand model types:

Documentation

Authors contributing to this release: