For US Utilities serving 3,000-100,000 meters and for operations team, billing team and utility managers. For Heads of Billing who own collections accuracy and revenue leakage.
Hydraulic modeling software is the tool a water utility uses to build a computer model of its distribution network and simulate how water moves through it: flows in each pipe, pressure at each junction, and water levels in tanks over time. Utilities use it for master planning, fire flow analysis, pressure management, and testing changes before they are built. The results depend on the data put into the model, especially the pipe network from GIS and customer demand from meter and billing records.
Hydraulic modeling software represents a water distribution system as a network of pipes, junctions, pumps, valves, tanks, and reservoirs, then solves the equations of flow and pressure across that network. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes its own tool, EPANET, as software that performs extended-period simulation of the hydraulic and water quality behavior within pressurized pipe networks (U.S. EPA).
For a water utility, the model answers questions that cannot be answered by looking at a map. Will a new subdivision get enough pressure? Can the network deliver fire flow to a school at the edge of town? What happens to service if a main breaks or a pump goes offline? EPA's reference guide for utilities notes that network models have become an integral part of most water system design, master planning, and fire flow analyses (U.S. EPA).
The terms "hydraulic modeling" and "hydraulic modelling" mean the same thing; the second spelling is common outside the United States. "Hydraulic network modeling" is used when the emphasis is on the connected pipe network rather than a single channel or structure.
A hydraulic model is an engineering tool, and it is usually run by an engineer on staff or a consulting firm. What the model does not do is hold the utility's day-to-day records. Pipe locations live in GIS, and customer accounts, meters, and usage live in the utility's water utility management platform. A model is built from those records, and its accuracy depends on them.
EPA lists the uses of EPANET as designing infrastructure, retrofitting aging systems, optimizing operations, reducing energy use, investigating water quality problems, and preparing for emergencies (U.S. EPA). For a small or mid-sized water utility, the most common uses are:
Many utilities build a model for one purpose, such as a master plan, and then reuse it for others. That reuse only works if the model is kept up to date as the network and customer base change.
Hydraulic models differ in what they simulate and how much of the network they include. EPA's reference guide explains that an extended-period simulation is a series of steady-state analyses linked together over time, and that the acceptable level of network detail depends on how the model will be used (U.S. EPA).
The reference manual most engineers use for building and maintaining these models is AWWA Manual M32, whose fourth edition adds chapters on model maintenance and real-time modeling (AWWA).
Model builds vary by software and purpose, but the workflow follows the same order.
EPA's reference guide describes pipe roughness (C-factor) tests and fire-flow tests as standard steady-state calibration methods. Steps two and three are where most modeling time is spent, because they depend on records that were not created with modeling in mind.
A hydraulic model draws on several utility systems. Each one has to be accurate for the model to reflect the real network.
The pipe network almost always starts in GIS, so GIS quality sets the ceiling for model quality. Our guide to GIS utility asset management covers keeping those records connected and current.
Before a modeling project, a utility can check its own readiness:
Can every customer account be placed at a service location on the pipe network?
Are pipe diameters, materials, and valve positions in GIS verified, or copied from old paper maps?
Can you pull at least a year of meter reads by customer class and location without rebuilding the data by hand?
If the answer to any of these is no, the model will need assumptions in place of data, and its results will be less reliable.
Demand is the input most utilities underestimate. EPA's reference guide notes that demand information is often acquired from a utility's existing records, such as customer meter and billing records, and that the spatial assignment of those demands is extremely important (U.S. EPA). The same guide notes that usage patterns vary with climate, such as summer lawn watering.
In practice, good demand data for modeling has these qualities:
That last point connects modeling to water loss. A model built only from billed consumption will understate flows in areas with high losses. Our guide to non-revenue water data management covers how utilities measure and track the gap between water produced and water billed.
A hydraulic model and a digital twin use the same physics. The difference is how current the model is kept. A model built for a master plan is usually updated every few years; a digital twin is a model connected to ongoing data feeds, so it reflects the network as it is today.
Most utilities do not need to choose between them. A calibrated hydraulic model is the starting point for a twin, and the data work described above, clean GIS, located customer accounts, and reliable meter history, is the same work a twin requires. Our guide to digital twin software for water utilities explains what it takes to keep a model current and when that is worth doing.
"Hydraulic modeling" covers more than drinking water networks. The same term is used for sewer, stormwater, and river modeling, which use different tools and different equations.
EPA describes SWMM as used for planning, analysis, and design related to stormwater, combined, and sanitary sewer systems, including sizing drainage components for flood control (U.S. EPA). The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' HEC-RAS performs one-dimensional steady flow and one- and two-dimensional unsteady flow computations, as well as stormwater pipe network modeling (USACE).
When people search for 2D or 3D hydraulic modeling, they are usually looking at flooding and surface flow rather than water distribution. Pressurized water networks are modeled as connected pipes, where a one-dimensional approach is standard. For quick checks on gravity flow in a single pipe or channel, our Manning equation calculator handles the basic formula without a full model.
SMART360 is not hydraulic modeling software. It does not solve network hydraulics, calibrate models, or run fire flow scenarios. It is the utility management platform that holds many of the records a model is built from, on one database:
SMART360 includes 25+ pre-built integrations, so consumption and asset data can reach GIS and modeling workflows without rebuilding it by hand each time a model is updated.
Hydraulic modeling software builds a computer model of a water distribution network and simulates flow, pressure, and tank levels across it. Water utilities use it for master planning, fire flow analysis, pressure and pump planning, main break planning, and water quality studies.
Yes. EPA's EPANET is public domain software for modeling pressurized water distribution networks, and EPA's SWMM is freely available for stormwater and sewer systems. Commercial modeling products add features such as GIS tools, scenario management, and technical support, which is the main trade-off when choosing between free and paid software.
A model needs the pipe network from GIS, including diameters and materials; valve, pump, and tank details; customer demand by location from meter and billing records; SCADA data on pressures, flows, and tank levels; and field test results for calibration.
They use the same physics. A hydraulic model is often built for a specific study and updated periodically, while a digital twin is a model connected to ongoing data feeds so it reflects current conditions. A calibrated hydraulic model is usually the starting point for a twin.
No. SMART360 is a utility management platform, not a hydraulic modeling engine. It keeps the customer accounts, service locations, meter reads, billing history, and asset records a model is built from, and shares that data through integrations with GIS and other systems.
A hydraulic model is only as good as the demand and network data behind it. SMART360 keeps accounts, service points, meter reads, billing history, and asset records on one database, so the data engineers need for modeling is accurate and easy to export. Island Water Authority runs SMART360 across 35,000 accounts with 99% billing accuracy.
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