<< Click to Display Table of Contents >> Navigation:  Wadiso 6 User Guide > Program history, purpose and capabilities > Numeric method for balancing pressures and flows > Node method

The technique employed in Wadiso for both the Wadiso and the EPANet network solvers is a node method: the non-linear head loss equation for each pipe (or pump) is linearized, and substituted into the continuity equation at each node. The result is a system of linear equations, with as many equations as there are nodes in the system. The major advantages of this technique include:

•A coefficient matrix which is symmetrical for all systems (even in the presence of pumps and pressure reducing valves);

•A network topology which does not change substantially, if during the optimization, pipes are removed;

•Excellent convergence characteristics; and

•An algorithm which has hydraulic head (or pressures) as the primary unknown, allowing excellent control over required and achieved accuracy.