Draft EPANET 2.2 Users Manual¶
DISCLAIMER
This User Manual is an updated version of the EPANET 2 User Manual (EPA/600/R-00/057) written by Lewis Rossman in 2000. The EPANET 2 software was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). Version 2.2 includes contributions from USEPA and from other individuals outside the United States Government. No warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the functionality of the software, nor shall the act of release or distribution constitute any such warranty. The software is released on condition that neither the USEPA nor the U.S. Government shall be held liable for any damages resulting from its authorized or unauthorized use. The USEPA has relinquished control of the information and no longer has responsibility to protect the integrity, confidentiality or availability of the information. Any reference to specific commercial products, processes, or services by service mark, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply their endorsement, recommendation or favoring by the USEPA. The USEPA seal and logo shall not be used in any manner to imply endorsement of any commercial product or activity by the USEPA or the United States Government.
About This Manual
Chapter 1 of this manual describes what EPANET is and its capabilities.
Chapter 2 describes how to install EPANET and offers up a quick tutorial on its use. Readers unfamiliar with the basics of modeling distribution systems might wish to review Chapter 3 first before working through the tutorial.
Chapter 3 provides background material on how EPANET models a water distribution system. It discusses the behavior of the physical components that comprise a distribution system as well as how additional modeling information, such as time variations and operational control, are handled. It also provides an overview of how the numerical simulation of system hydraulics and water quality performance is carried out.
Chapter 4 shows how the EPANET workspace is organized. It describes the functions of the various menu options and toolbar buttons, and how the three main windows – the Network Map, the Browser, and the Property Editor—are used.
Chapter 5 discusses the project files that store all of the information contained in an EPANET model of a distribution system. It shows how to create, open, and save these files as well as how to set default project options. It also discusses how to register calibration data that are used to compare simulation results against actual measurements.
Chapter 6 describes how one goes about building a network model of a distribution system with EPANET. It shows how to create the various physical objects (pipes, pumps, valves, junctions, tanks, etc.) that make up a system, how to edit the properties of these objects, and how to describe the way that system demands and operation change over time.
Chapter 7 explains how to use the network map that provides a graphical view of the system being modeled. It shows how to view different design and computed parameters in color-coded fashion on the map, how to re-scale, zoom, and pan the map, how to locate objects on the map, and what options are available to customize the appearance of the map.
Chapter 8 shows how to run a hydraulic/water quality analysis of a network model. It describes the various options that control how the analysis is made and offers some troubleshooting tips to use when examining simulation results.
Chapter 9 discusses the various ways in which the results of an analysis can be viewed. These include different views of the network map, various kinds of graphs and tables, and several different types of special reports.
Chapter 10 explains how to print and copy the views discussed in Chapter 9.
Chapter 11 describes how EPANET can import and export project scenarios. A scenario is a subset of the data that characterizes the current conditions under which a pipe network is being analyzed (e.g., consumer demands, operating rules, water quality reaction coefficients, etc.). It also discusses how to save a project’s entire database to a readable text file and how to export the network map to a variety of formats.
Chapter 12 answers questions about how EPANET can be used to model special kinds of situations, such as modeling pneumatic tanks, finding the maximum flow available at a specific pressure, and modeling the growth of disinfection by-products.
Chapter 13 provides details of the procedures and formulas used by EPANET in its hydraulic and water quality analysis algorithms.
The manual also contains several appendixes.