Skeletonization
Skeletonization is the process of selecting only the parts of the hydraulic network that have a significant impact on the behavior of the system for inclusion in a water distribution model. For example, including each individual service connection, valve, and every one of the numerous other elements that make up the actual network would be a huge undertaking for larger systems. The portions of the network that are not modeled are not ignored; rather, the effects of these elements are accounted for within the parts of the system that are included in the model.
A fully realized water distribution model can be an enormously complex network consisting of thousands of discrete elements, and not all of these elements are necessary for every application of the model. When elements that are extraneous to the desired purpose are present, the efficiency, usability, and focus of the model can be substantially affected, and calculation and display refresh times can be seriously impaired. In addition to the logistics of creating and maintaining a model that employs little or no skeletonization, a high level of detail might be unnecessary when incorporating all of these elements in the model and has no significant effect on the accuracy of the results that are generated.
Different levels of skeletonization are appropriate depending on the intended use of the model. For an energy cost analysis, a higher degree of skeletonization is preferable and for fire flow and water quality analysis, minimal skeletonization is necessary. This means that multiple models are required for different applications. Due to this necessity, various automated skeletonization techniques have been developed to assist with the skeletonization process.
Automated Skeletonization includes: