MSX Extension Supports Temperature Modelling

Maintaining a safe and comfortable temperature range in drinking water distribution systems is a growing concern for water utilities worldwide. Temperatures outside the normal range can cause a significant discomfort to customers during both extremely hot and cold months. In addition, temperature directly and indirectly affects all the factors that govern microbial growth. It therefore influences treatment plant efficiency, microbial growth rate, disinfection efficiency, dissipation of disinfectant residuals, corrosion and metal release rates, maintenance and chemical additive costs, and distribution system hydraulics and water velocity created by customer demand. Now, MWH Soft's new enhanced MSX extension gives water utilities unprecedented power to model temperature variations within their distribution systems for improved thermal design and operation and optimal safeguarding of public health.

This breakthrough software enables engineers to model very complex heat transfer mechanisms between the water in the distribution pipes and the ambient environment. It directly considers the influence of ambient temperature, wall material and thickness, flow conditions, buried depth, and other pertinent variables that determine how much heat will intrude into the water in the distribution pipes. Ambient temperature can be the air temperature of the upper cover (soil, grass and pavement), and can be described as either a constant or a time-varying pattern.

The MSX extension can also model very complex reaction schemes between multiple chemical and biological species in water distribution piping systems. It allows users to input any mathematical models of physical, chemical, and biological reactions, both in the bulk flow and at the pipe wall. It also tracks the movement, fate and build-up of particulate material in the distribution system, considering both settling of particles under gravity and deposition of particles on the pipe walls due to particle/pipe surface attractive forces. These capabilities give water utilities unprecedented flexibility in analyzing multi-source, multi-quality systems and accurately assessing the fate and transport of contaminant threats within them - enabling improved water quality maintenance and management.

Upgrade to the new MSX extension for H2ONET, H2OMAP Water and InfoWater is now available worldwide by subscription to the MWH Soft Maintenance and Support programme.