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Accurate and efficient junction mixing prediction in water distribution networks via surrogate modelling

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Abstract
The quality of the water in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) is a fundamental parameter for the operation of these systems, as it affects public health, local economies and the networks themselves. Hence, the use of models for, among others, scenario analysis, monitoring, and control is of high importance. However, by virtue of the extensive nature of most WDNs, these models are simplified, typically being one-dimensional and assuming perfect mixing in the network's junctions. This assumption is often incorrect and can lead to severe misrepresentations of the expected propagation of solutes or to the possible consequences of contamination events. The growing importance of contaminants of emerging concern has further increased the significance of these considerations. Accordingly, this work proposes a widely applicable imperfect mixing model for WDNs. A highresolution screening of a large selection of possible operational conditions for three junction geometries commonly found in WDNs was performed with an experimentally validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD, median error: 1.15 %) model. The resulting extensive dataset is publicly available and was used as the basis for a surrogate model based on artificial neural networks. The proposed approach was found to be capable of accurately recovering the original CFD predictions at a fraction of the computational cost. Moreover, satisfactory interpolation along the studied operational space was observed as well. Finally, the surrogate model was coupled with the EPANET hydraulic simulator, which allowed for the efficient analysis of the influence of imperfect mixing (differences up to 80 %) under different conditions in a realistic urban WDN.
Keywords
Water distribution networks, Incomplete mixing, Computational fluid dynamics, Artificial neural networks, Surrogate model, DISTRIBUTION-SYSTEMS

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MLA
Gallo, Pablo, et al. “Accurate and Efficient Junction Mixing Prediction in Water Distribution Networks via Surrogate Modelling.” JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING, vol. 77, 2025, doi:10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108505.
APA
Gallo, P., Gómez Cortés, C. C., Torfs, E., Nopens, I., Daneshgar, S., & Fernandes del Pozo, D. (2025). Accurate and efficient junction mixing prediction in water distribution networks via surrogate modelling. JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING, 77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108505
Chicago author-date
Gallo, Pablo, Cristian Camilo Gómez Cortés, Elena Torfs, Ingmar Nopens, Saba Daneshgar, and David Fernandes del Pozo. 2025. “Accurate and Efficient Junction Mixing Prediction in Water Distribution Networks via Surrogate Modelling.” JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING 77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108505.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Gallo, Pablo, Cristian Camilo Gómez Cortés, Elena Torfs, Ingmar Nopens, Saba Daneshgar, and David Fernandes del Pozo. 2025. “Accurate and Efficient Junction Mixing Prediction in Water Distribution Networks via Surrogate Modelling.” JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING 77. doi:10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108505.
Vancouver
1.
Gallo P, Gómez Cortés CC, Torfs E, Nopens I, Daneshgar S, Fernandes del Pozo D. Accurate and efficient junction mixing prediction in water distribution networks via surrogate modelling. JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING. 2025;77.
IEEE
[1]
P. Gallo, C. C. Gómez Cortés, E. Torfs, I. Nopens, S. Daneshgar, and D. Fernandes del Pozo, “Accurate and efficient junction mixing prediction in water distribution networks via surrogate modelling,” JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING, vol. 77, 2025.
@article{01K4PZ1NSJWFVRRE3YJ2HHBYDJ,
  abstract     = {{The quality of the water in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) is a fundamental parameter for the operation of these systems, as it affects public health, local economies and the networks themselves. Hence, the use of models for, among others, scenario analysis, monitoring, and control is of high importance. However, by virtue of the extensive nature of most WDNs, these models are simplified, typically being one-dimensional and assuming perfect mixing in the network's junctions. This assumption is often incorrect and can lead to severe misrepresentations of the expected propagation of solutes or to the possible consequences of contamination events. The growing importance of contaminants of emerging concern has further increased the significance of these considerations. Accordingly, this work proposes a widely applicable imperfect mixing model for WDNs. A highresolution screening of a large selection of possible operational conditions for three junction geometries commonly found in WDNs was performed with an experimentally validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD, median error: 1.15 %) model. The resulting extensive dataset is publicly available and was used as the basis for a surrogate model based on artificial neural networks. The proposed approach was found to be capable of accurately recovering the original CFD predictions at a fraction of the computational cost. Moreover, satisfactory interpolation along the studied operational space was observed as well. Finally, the surrogate model was coupled with the EPANET hydraulic simulator, which allowed for the efficient analysis of the influence of imperfect mixing (differences up to 80 %) under different conditions in a realistic urban WDN.}},
  articleno    = {{108505}},
  author       = {{Gallo, Pablo and Gómez Cortés, Cristian Camilo and Torfs, Elena and Nopens, Ingmar and Daneshgar, Saba and Fernandes del Pozo, David}},
  issn         = {{2214-7144}},
  journal      = {{JOURNAL OF WATER PROCESS ENGINEERING}},
  keywords     = {{Water distribution networks,Incomplete mixing,Computational fluid dynamics,Artificial neural networks,Surrogate model,DISTRIBUTION-SYSTEMS}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{13}},
  title        = {{Accurate and efficient junction mixing prediction in water distribution networks via surrogate modelling}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108505}},
  volume       = {{77}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}

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