With the overwhelming amount of data now available to the water distribution modeler, some degree of skeletonization is appropriate for practically every model, although the extent of the skeletonization varies widely depending on the intended purpose of the model. In light of this, it has become desirable to maintain multiple models of the same system, each for use in different types of analysis and design.

A model that has been minimally skeletonized serves as a water quality and fire flow analysis model, while energy cost estimating is performed using a model with a higher degree of skeletonization.

Creating a number of reduced models with varying levels of skeletonization can be a lengthy and tedious process, which is where the automated techniques described above demonstrate their value. To ensure that the skeletonization process produces a reduced model with the minimum number of elements necessary for the intended application while simultaneously maintaining an accurate simulation of network behavior, the automated skeletonization routine must be flexible enough to accommodate a wide variety of conditions.

Skelebrator provides an unmatched level of flexibility, providing numerous demand reallocation and element removal strategies. It alone, amongst automated skeletonizers, maximizes the potential level of skeletonization by introducing the concept of Hydraulic Equivalence, eliminating the limitation posed by exact attribute matching requirements. Another distinction is the advanced network walking algorithm employed by Skelebrator, which ensures that your model remains connected and valid, thereby greatly reducing the possibility for inadvertent element removal errors.

These features, and others such as the Skeletonization Preview and Manual Skeletonization, greatly expedite and simplify the process of generating multiple, special-purpose water distribution models, each skeletonized to the optimal level for their intended purpose.