INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

IN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION

T E C H N IC A L U N IV E R S IT Y “G H .A S A C H I ” IA ŞI, R O M A N IA

Development of the Calculating Method

for Cold and Hot Water Consumption
based on the Fixture Usage in the Time Series through a Day
- A Case Study of Apartment Houses -
Saburo Murakawa (1), Hiroshi Takata (2)
(1) [email protected]
(2) [email protected]
Graduate School of Engineering, Hiroshima Univ., Japan

Abstract
It is very important to improve the precision of calculating method for cold and hot
water consumption in buildings, not only for the design of building services but also for
the maintenance and management of buildings from the view point of energy saving. In
this case, it is necessary to get hold of the unified loads in the time series such as daily,
hourly and instantaneous loads. However the designer of building services usually apply
the unit values for calculation of cold and hot water consumption because the unified
calculation method has not been established as yet.
In case of Japan, we have the four kinds of technique as for the method of calculating
the instantaneous maximum flow rate (HASS 206-2000). These outlines were discussed
at CIB/W62 Symposium, Washington DC (S. Murakawa, 1992).
Therefore, the authors have advanced the development of calculating method based
on the data of water consumption for daily, hourly and instantaneous loads in the time
series through a day by using a personal computer. The method is applied by the Monte
Carlo Simulation technique. In this paper, the authors analyzed the frequency and
hourly fluctuations of water usage and the distributions of duration time and flow rate in
each fixture usage through a day, and clarified the weight of influence for these factors
concerned in the water consumption.
Also, the authors proposed the method that will be applied the unit model as one flat
water consumption load summed up the each water usage in a flat.

Keywords
Water Consumption, Monte Carlo Simulation, Fixture Usage, Apartment Houses

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 INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
IN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
T E C H N IC A L U N IV E R S IT Y “G H .A S A C H I ” IA ŞI, R O M A N IA

1 Introduction
It is very important to improve the precision of calculating method for cold and hot
water consumption in buildings, not only for the design of building services but also for
the maintenance and management of buildings from the view point of energy saving.
Therefore, there are many studies about water consumption on the various kinds of
buildings in Japan. Also, the calculating methods for cold and hot water loads have been
suggested by several researchers at home and abroad as shown in the paper presented at
CIB/W62 Symposium held in Gavle, Sweden, 1989[1]. After that, at the CIB/W62
Symposium held in Washington DC, USA, 1992, S. Murakawa reviewed the researches
on the method for calculation of water supply loads in buildings, especially on the
methods for calculation of the instantaneous maximum flow rate including the contents
that are described in the HASS 206; Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary Standard
which has been published from the Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning and Sanitary
Engineers of Japan.
However, the four calculating methods for the instantaneous maximum flow rate are
still described in HASS 206 (2000), which are as follows:
1. The method by the duration time of water usage as a ratio of the occupied time for
using at the facility and fixture flow unit.
2. The method by the new loading units, which are developed by S. Murakawa
3. The method by the estimation of simultaneous uses of fixture.
4. The method by the fixture unit, so-called the Hunter’s Method.
Therefore, we started the committee to develop the calculating method of cold and
hot water consumption loads in buildings at last year, April 2001. The committee, the
chief examiner is S. Murakawa, belongs to the Society of Heating, Air-Conditioning
and Sanitary Engineers of Japan.
In this committee, we have now discussion about the unified method to calculate the
daily, hourly and instantaneous loads of cold and hot water consumption in the time
series through a day by using a personal computer. As for the method, we made
suggestion to apply the Monte Carlo Simulation technique.
In this paper, as an example, we analyze about the calculating model of water
demands in apartment houses. The frequency and hourly fluctuations of water usage,
and the distributions of duration time and flow rate in each fixture through a day are
shown as the factors of the model. The weights of influence for these factors concerned
to the water consumption are clarified. Also, we propose the method that will be applied
as the unit model, which means the water consumption load per flat summed up the
each water usage in the household.

2 The calculating method of cold and hot water consumption loads

We aim to apply the calculating method for many kinds buildings such as dwelling
house, office building, complex commercial building, hotel, hospital, school, etc. by
using the Monte Carlo Simulation technique.
As the basic consideration to apply the technique, the calculation starts from the
occurrence by people’s water usage at the fixtures installed in the building. In this case,
we have a hypothesis that the number of fixtures is installed suitably for requirements.
And if we have the special instruments to consume cold and hot water in the building,

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we will add the volume to the people’s consumption.

At the beginning of the calculation, it is very important to grasp the characteristics of
the objective building. For example, when we calculate about the apartment houses and
the office building, it is necessary to get the basic data as shown in Table 1.
The number of people and family composition living in a household, the number of
workers and the composition of male and female, working or staying schedule through a
day, etc. will be required as the basic data for the calculation. Also, we have to decide
the types of fixtures installed in each building. It is possible to grasp the efficiency of
saving water, if the plumbing designer compares the results of calculation between the
water saving fixtures and standard fixtures.
After the basic data were set up for the objective building, the calculation of cold and
hot water consumption loads can be carried out according to the procedure shown in
Figure 1.
In this method, we have a hypothesis that the probability of the frequency of water
usage occurs at random phenomena for a decided period [3].
We have to set up the calculating model as follows:
1. The frequency of water usage in each period through a day
2. The average values and the distributions of the duration of water usage and the
discharge flow rate
We also determine the cold and hot water temperature used. When we have only cold
supply system for calculation, it is not necessary to decide the cold temperature. In this
case, each flat has the individual hot water supply system.
We generate the pseudo-random numbers by using personal computer. And the
generated random numbers are applied to calculate the occurrence time interval of water
usage, the duration of water usage and the discharge flow rate. If we have to consider
the temperature of using water, we also apply the random numbers to decide the water
temperature used. In this paper, we don’t consider about the temperature of water usage.
The simulation is carried out with repetition until we can get the stability for the
calculating results. From these results, we can get the fluctuation patterns of water
consumption in the time series through a day, and the standard values of the
instantaneous maximum flow rate, peak hours and daily consumption by using the
statistic technique. These results calculated by the simulation will be applied for the
calculation of the piping size, the capacity of cold and hot water service tanks, the
capacity of water supply pumps, etc.

Table 1 – Characteristic of the objective building

(Example of apartment houses and office building)
Apartment houses Office building
Scale Number of household Total floor area
Structure Family size Number of workers
of people Composition of age and gender Ratio of male and female
Character of Life style Contents of business
daily life Schedule of going out Schedule of going out
Character of Cooling and heating systems
building services Cold and hot water supply systems
Number of fixtures
Type of fixtures
Specific facilities of water usage

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The kind of building

Characteristics of building

Occurrence of water usage in the time series

(Random phenomena)

Behavior of water usage

Distribution of the duration time,
Distribution of the flow rate
Distributio and the used temperature

Simulation of water usage

Occurrence of water consumption
in the time series

Repetition

Statistical analysis
of water consumption loads in time series

Statistical analysis
Instantaneous, hourly and daily loads

Calculation of piping size,

capacity of service tanks and equipments

Figure 1 – Procedure for calculation of cold and hot water consumption loads

3 Calculating model of water consumption load in each fixture usage

3.1 An example of calculating model
We set up the calculating model of water consumption loads based on the detail
investigation of water usage in apartment houses [4].
The calculating models in each household facility are shown in Table 2. Also,
Figure 2 shows the average frequency of water usage per flat and per hour as a
percentage to the total frequency for a day as an example of weekday on August. In this
case, we suppose that the water usage does not occur during early morning from 2 a.m.
to 5 a.m. The values in Table 2 assume to be four persons as standard size of one family.
This model includes the cold and hot water consumption. Hot water of high
temperature is supplied from the central plant located in the housing development. Hot
water used in the household is exchanged from cold water by heat exchanger put in each
flat individually.

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The water usage in bathing is classified into four items, which are; taking a bath
without using a shower, taking a bath using a shower, taking a shower only and filling
the bathtub. In the case of water usage in filling the bathtub, the water in the bathtub is
regarded as being used by several persons of the household. The water consumption by
the other three items is regarded for individual use. “Laundry” means the frequency of
using a washing machine. A cycle of washing, washing/rinsing/drying, is counted as
one time. The values of the laundry model are reduced in comparison with the values of
actual measurement in those days, because the water saving washing machines are
popularized recently. “Kitchen” means the frequency of preparing a meal and cleaning
up after. However, sometimes the kitchen tap is used not only for these purposes, but
also for the purposes of house cleaning and watering the garden or veranda plants, etc.
Therefore, the frequencies of these other water usage are included in the item “Kitchen
and other uses”.

Table 2 – Calculating model as an example of apartment houses

Behavior of water usage
Defecation Urination Hand/face Bath Bath and Shower Filling the Laundry Kitchen
washing shower bathtub and other uses
Frequency of Aug. Weekday 2.78 9.17 5.35 0.74 0.65 2.04 0.61 1.70 8.87
water usage Aug. Holiday 3.33 10.33 6.86 0.43 1.00 2.29 0.62 1.76 7.71
[frequency/flat/day] Nov. Weekday 2.56 8.06 6.50 1.22 0.61 0.72 0.78 0.94 7.22
Nov. Holiday 2.74 8.84 6.47 0.63 1.00 0.53 0.58 2.00 7.16
Duration time per frequency [sec] 60 50 30 180 240 360 600 360 90
(Distribution) Exp. Exp. Exp. Exp. Exp. Exp. Erl.15 Exp. Hyp.2
Flow rate [l/min] 10 10 10 10 11 11 15 15 15
(Distribution) Erl.6 Erl.6 Erl.10 Erl.7 Erl.7 Erl.7 Erl.20 Erl.5 Erl.15
Note : Bath:Taking a bath without using a shower; Bath and shower:Taking a bath using a shower; Shower:Taking a shower only

30%
per flat and per hour as a percentage
Average frequency of water usage

to the total frequency for 21 hours

Defecation Bath Laundry

25%
Urination Bath and shower
20% Kitchen and other uses
Hand/face washing Shower
15% Filling the bathtub

10%

5%

0%
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0
hour hour hour

Figure 2 – Average frequency of water usage as an example of weekday on August

3.2 Results of the calculation

We carried out the simulation of water consumption by using the calculating model
mentioned above. The calculating condition of the apartment houses is 23 households
with four people in each family. The simulation in every an hour from 5 a.m. to 2 a.m.
was carried out with ten trials. The occurrence of water consumption was checked with
one-second interval.
Figure 3 shows the results of the simulation as an example of one case among the ten
trials about the weekday on August. The fluctuations of water consumption are shown
by one-minute interval. Based on these data calculated, the instantaneous maximum
flow rates and the volume of peak time can be estimated statistically. Table 3 shows the
instantaneous flow rates in each time interval as an example of ten trials. We will
discuss on the time interval for the instantaneous maximum flow rate at next chapter.
When the plumbing designer wants to get the hourly water consumption in each fixture
usage, it is easy to present such average values like Figure 4. And the average and peak
values per flat and per hour are shown like Table 4.

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100

consumption [l/min]
Volume of water
80
60
40
20
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 hour
a ) Total water consumption
40 25
consumption [l/min]

20
Volume of water

30
15
20
10
10 5
0 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 hour 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 hour
b ) W.C. c ) Basin
50 40
consumption [l/min]
Volume of water

40 30
30
20
20
10 10
0 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 hour 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 hour
d ) Bath (include taking a shower) e ) Filling the bathtub
60 70
consumption [l/min]

50 60
Volume of water

40 50
40
30
30
20 20
10 10
0 0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 hour 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 hour
f ) Laundry g ) Kitchen and other uses

Figure 3 – The results of the simulation as an example of one case

Table 3 – Instantaneous flow rates in each time interval

Interval Average Maximum Failure factor
[sec] [l/sec] [l/sec] 1% 2% 5% 10% 25% 50%
Total 1 0.41 1.87 1.20 1.12 0.91 0.74 0.52 0.34
5 0.40 1.87 1.20 1.10 0.91 0.74 0.52 0.34
10 0.39 1.87 1.20 1.10 0.89 0.73 0.52 0.33
60 0.33 1.57 1.14 1.02 0.82 0.67 0.47 0.27
W.C. 1 0.21 1.05 0.58 0.50 0.41 0.33 0.26 0.18
5 0.20 1.05 0.58 0.49 0.40 0.32 0.24 0.17
10 0.18 1.05 0.58 0.49 0.38 0.31 0.23 0.17
60 0.12 0.77 0.43 0.36 0.30 0.26 0.17 0.09
Basin 1 0.19 0.60 0.42 0.40 0.32 0.26 0.22 0.18
5 0.17 0.60 0.42 0.38 0.28 0.26 0.21 0.16
10 0.15 0.55 0.41 0.34 0.27 0.24 0.20 0.15
60 0.07 0.47 0.26 0.26 0.20 0.16 0.11 0.05
Bath 1 0.30 0.97 0.74 0.73 0.70 0.52 0.37 0.25
5 0.30 0.97 0.74 0.73 0.70 0.52 0.37 0.25
10 0.30 0.97 0.74 0.73 0.70 0.52 0.36 0.25
60 0.27 0.92 0.73 0.70 0.61 0.51 0.35 0.23
Laundry 1 0.34 0.91 0.87 0.80 0.72 0.61 0.39 0.32
5 0.33 0.91 0.87 0.80 0.72 0.59 0.39 0.32
10 0.33 0.91 0.87 0.80 0.72 0.57 0.39 0.32
60 0.28 0.91 0.80 0.76 0.71 0.46 0.38 0.26
Kitchen 1 0.32 1.21 0.75 0.72 0.61 0.47 0.38 0.29
and others 5 0.31 1.21 0.75 0.70 0.59 0.47 0.38 0.28
10 0.30 1.21 0.75 0.70 0.57 0.45 0.37 0.28
60 0.22 1.10 0.70 0.64 0.49 0.39 0.31 0.20

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Volume of water consumption

100
80

[l/flat/hour]
60
40
20
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0
a ) August, Weekday hour
Volume of water consumption

100
80 W.C.
[l/flat/hour]

60 Basin
Bath(include taking a shower)
40
Filling the bathtub
20 Laundry
0 Kitchen and other uses
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0
b ) November, Weekday hour

Figure 4 – Hourly consumption of water usage

Table 4 – Water consumption per flat and per hour

Standard Value of
Average Peak time
deviation peak time Peak rate
[l/flat/hour] [o'clock]
August Total 37.5 18.3 82.0 2.2 20
Weekday W.C. 5.4 2.8 11.7 2.2 5
Basin 1.5 1.4 5.4 3.6 7
Bath 13.6 11.7 47.4 3.5 8
Laundry 7.0 7.0 24.4 3.5 8
Kitchen 10.0 5.5 23.3 2.3 19
August Total 42.2 25.9 105.3 2.5 20
Holiday W.C. 6.0 3.1 12.4 2.1 8
Basin 1.8 1.5 5.3 3.0 7
Bath 17.4 23.6 81.1 4.7 8
Laundry 7.3 8.5 29.8 4.1 9
Kitchen 9.8 4.9 19.5 2.0 18
November Total 31.0 19.4 80.7 2.6 21
Weekday W.C. 4.8 3.3 13.7 2.8 6
Basin 1.6 2.2 10.2 6.2 7
Bath 11.2 16.5 64.4 5.8 8
Laundry 4.1 4.7 15.4 3.7 9
Kitchen 9.2 5.5 19.3 2.1 17
November Total 32.7 17.2 73.6 2.3 20
Holiday W.C. 5.2 2.2 10.8 2.1 7
Basin 1.7 1.3 5.9 3.5 7
Bath 8.4 11.8 48.2 5.7 8
Laundry 8.6 10.3 37.4 4.4 10
Kitchen 8.8 5.1 19.6 2.2 18
Note : 1) For peak time, for example 20 o'clock means one hour from 20 to 21 o'clock.
Note : 2) Duration time of water usage is 21 hours.

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4 Analysis on the calculating model of water consumption loads

4.1 Influence of factors in the calculating model
The water consumption loads calculated in each time interval through a day are
affected by the factors of the calculating model such as frequency of water usage,
duration time of water usage and flow rate in each fixture. Therefore, we analyze the
influence for the calculating results when we change the values of these factors.
To begin with the analysis, we carried out the simulation of 100 trials for each hour.
In this case, we set up constant for the average values of simultaneous uses of water,
and changed the combination of the rate of operating frequency of the fixture and the
duration of water usage.
Figure 5 shows the average of calculating results as an example of water usage in
laundry for 100 flats. There are not so large differences among the four distributions of
the simultaneous uses of water. These results have an approximation to the Poisson
distribution; the average value is 3.4. In these four cases by changing the combination
of two factors, the instantaneous maximum flow rates in each failure factor are shown in
Figure 6. There are small differences in the values less than the failure factor 5 %.
However, when the average number of simultaneous uses of water is constant, there are
0.25
Frequency of Rate of Duration of
water usage operating fixture water usage
0.20 [frequency/flat/day] [frequency/100flats/min] [sec]
1.70 0.57 360
3.40 1.13 180
Probability

0.15 5.10 1.70 120

6.80 2.27 90
The Poisson distribution Average value = 3.4
0.10

0.05

0.00
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Number of simultaneous uses
Figure 5 – Probability distributions of the number of simultaneous uses (Example of laundry, 100flats)
3.0
Frequency of Rate of Duration of
Instantaneous maximum flow rate [l/sec]

water usage operating fixture water usage

2.5 [frequency/flat/day] [frequency/100flats/min] [sec]
1.70 0.57 360
2.0 3.40 1.13 180
5.10 1.70 120
6.80 2.27 90
1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
Failure factor
Figure 6 – Relationship between the instantaneous maximum flow rate and the
failure factor (In case of changing the rate of operating fixture and
duration of water usage, Example of laundry, 100flats)

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not so large differences in the instantaneous maximum flow rates, on the whole.
As the next analysis, we set up constant for the volume of water consumption per one
usage, and changed the combination of the duration of water usage and the discharge
flow rate from the fixture. The instantaneous maximum flow rates of four combination
cases are shown in Figure 7. The instantaneous maximum flow rates less than the failure
factor 10 % show large differences by the two factors combination. In this case, the
more discharge flow rate is large, the more instantaneous maximum flow rate in each
failure factor is large. Therefore, when we set up the calculating model, it is necessary
to give heed to the decision of the discharge flow rate.
3.0
Instantaneous maximum flow rate [l/sec]

Duration of Flow rate

2.5 water usage
[sec] [l/min]
270 20
2.0 360 15
540 10
1.5 720 7.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
Failure factor
Figure 7 – Relationship between the instantaneous maximum flow rate and the
failure factor (In case of changing the duration of water usage and the
flow rate, Example of laundry, 100flats)

4.2 Analysis of the instantaneous maximum flow rates

On the analysis mentioned above, the instantaneous maximum flow rate had the
values of one-second interval as the results of simulation. However, the standard of time
interval for the instantaneous maximum flow rates, for example one second, ten
seconds, one minute, etc. has not been established yet.
Therefore, the time interval for the instantaneous loads was analyzed on the basis of
the calculating results in each one-second interval. Figure 8 shows the fluctuation of the
instantaneous flow rates in the interval of one second and in the moving average values
of sixty seconds. The results of the simulation show as an example of 100 flats of
apartment houses for one hour from 20 o’clock and weekday on August. When we have
the moving average values, the instantaneous loads become smoothing pattern.
However, the patterns of the fluctuation will be considered by the dependency on the
number of flats.
Table 5 shows the instantaneous maximum flow rates in each time interval for each
scale of apartment houses; 10, 30, 50 and 100 flats. There are not large differences
among the maximum flow rates within ten seconds interval. The values of 60 seconds
interval are rather small. The instantaneous maximum flow rates of 60 seconds interval
in each number of flats are almost same with the values of failure factor 1 % or 2 %
within ten seconds interval. Therefore, it is possible to apply the values of 60 seconds
interval as for the instantaneous maximum flow rate. However, the values of failure
factor will be set up according to the requirement of building’s functions.

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4.0

Instantaneous flow rate [l/sec]

3.5 Flow rate at 1 second interval Flow rate at 60 seconds interval
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0 600 1200 1800 2400 3000 3600
Time m
sec n
Figure 8 – Fluctuation of Instantaneous flow rates
(Example of August, Weekday, 20 o'clock)

Table 5 – Instantaneous maximum flow rates in each time interval

Number Interval Maximum Failure factor [l/sec]
of flats [sec] [l/sec] 1% 2% 5% 10% 25% 50%
100 1 3.29 3.10 2.85 2.66 2.53 2.11 1.61
5 3.16 3.05 2.81 2.66 2.54 2.11 1.61
10 3.16 3.02 2.78 2.66 2.54 2.10 1.61
60 2.90 2.81 2.73 2.60 2.52 2.02 1.64
50 1 2.59 2.34 2.21 2.06 1.79 1.35 0.89
5 2.54 2.34 2.21 2.06 1.79 1.35 0.89
10 2.44 2.34 2.21 2.05 1.79 1.35 0.89
60 2.29 2.22 2.14 2.04 1.84 1.39 0.91
30 1 1.43 1.39 1.26 1.23 1.00 0.67 0.39
5 1.43 1.35 1.26 1.22 0.98 0.67 0.39
10 1.43 1.32 1.26 1.20 0.96 0.67 0.39
60 1.34 1.30 1.27 1.18 0.91 0.71 0.39
10 1 0.69 0.60 0.59 0.53 0.47 0.33 0.22
5 0.69 0.60 0.59 0.53 0.47 0.33 0.22
10 0.69 0.60 0.59 0.53 0.46 0.33 0.22
60 0.59 0.56 0.55 0.51 0.43 0.34 0.21

4.3 Calculating model as “flat unit”

In case of the very complicated water supply pipe lines in buildings, for example
commercial kitchen in restaurant, it is difficult to set up the calculating model for each
fixture of water usage. In these cases, it is better to set up unit model that will cover the
whole fixtures usage of water as one group.
In this paper mentioned above, we analyzed the volume of water consumption for
each fixture usage in a flat. We will try to apply “flat unit” as one group of water usage
in a flat.
Figure 9 and Figure 10 show the distributions of the duration of water usage and the
discharge flow rates that were summed up every fixtures usage in a flat for one hour
from 12 o’clock, 18 o’clock and 20 o’clock, respectively. Table 6 shows the calculating
model as “flat unit” for each time that was set up based on these distributions.
Figure 11 shows the calculating results for the instantaneous maximum flow rates by
the model of each fixture usage and the model of “flat unit”.
From the results, in case of the maximum values in each number of flats, the values

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calculated by the model of each fixture usage show a little large tendency by
comparison with the model of “flat unit”. However, other values calculated have not
specific differences between the two models. These values calculated by the two models
have similarity. Therefore, it is possible to make the calculating unit model for grouping
several fixtures, if we can’t grasp the each fixture usage of water.

50 100% 35 100%

Cumulative frequency

Cumulative frequency
30
40 80% 80%
Frequency 25 Frequency
Frequency

Frequency
30 60% 20 60%
Cumulative 15 Cumulative
20 40% frequency 40%
frequency 10
10 20% 20%
5
0 0% 0 0%
0 120240 360480 600720840 960 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60
Duration of water usage [sec] Flow rate [l/min]
a ) 12 o'clock a ) 12 o'clock
35 100% 35 100%
Cumulative frequency

Cumulative frequency
30 30
80% 80%
25 25 Frequency
Frequency

Frequency Frequency
20 60% 20 60%
Cumulative
15 Cumulative 40% 15 frequency 40%
10 frequency 10
20% 20%
5 5
0 0% 0 0%
0 120 240 360 480 600720 840 960 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60
Duration of water usage [sec] Flow rate [l/min]
b ) 18 o'clock b ) 18 o'clock
50 100% 70 100%
Cumulative frequency

Cumulative frequency
60
40 80% 80%
50
Frequency

Frequency

Frequency Frequency
30 60% 40 60%
20 Cumulative 40% 30 Cumulative 40%
frequency frequency
20
10 20% 20%
10
0 0% 0 0%
0 120 240 360 480 600 720 840 960 0 6 12 18 24 30 36 42 48 54 60
Duration of water usage [sec] Flow rate [l/min]
c ) 20 o'clock c ) 20 o'clock

Figure 9 – Distribution of the duration Figure 10 – Distribution of the flow rates

of water usage

Table 6 – Calculating model as “flat unit”

Frequency of Duration of Flow rate
Time water usage water usage
[o'clock] fmrequency/flat/hour]
[frequency/flat/hour] m
sec n
[sec] [L/min]
m/min n
L
90 13
12 1.5
Hyp.2 Erl.7
150 13
18 1.5
Hyp.2 Erl.6
170 12
20 2
Hyp.2 Erl.6

2002 CIB W62 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE FOR BUILDINGS C1-11
 INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
IN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
T E C H N IC A L U N IV E R S IT Y “G H .A S A C H I ” IA ŞI, R O M A N IA

200

Instantaneous maximum
150

flow rate [l/min]

100

50

0
50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
Failure factor

Total of each fixture 10 flats 30 flats 50 flats 100 flats

Flat unit 10 flats 30 flats 50 flats 100 flats
a ) 12 o'clock
250

200
Instantaneous maximum

150
flow rate [l/min]

100

50

0
50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
Failure factor

Total of each fixture 10 flats 30 flats 50 flats 100 flats

Flat unit 10 flats 30 flats 50 flats 100 flats
b ) 18 o'clock
300
250
200
Instantaneous maximum

150
flow rate [l/min]

100
50
0
50% 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%
Failure factor

Total of each fixture 10 flats 30 flats 50 flats 100 flats

Flat unit 10 flats 30 flats 50 flats 100 flats
c ) 20 o'clock
Figure 11 – Instantaneous maximum flow rates by the model of each fixture usage
and the model of "flat unit"

5 Conclusion
In this paper, we showed the calculating method for cold and hot water consumption
in the time series through a day by using a personal computer.
When we calculate the daily, hourly and instantaneous loads, it is very useful to
apply the Monte Carlo Simulation technique. We made an attempt to calculate the cold
water consumption in apartment houses as an example, and confirmed the usefulness of
the simulation technique.

2002 CIB W62 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE FOR BUILDINGS C1-12
 INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
IN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
T E C H N IC A L U N IV E R S IT Y “G H .A S A C H I ” IA ŞI, R O M A N IA

We analyzed the influence of the factors for calculating conditions of the model.
There are not so large differences among the instantaneous maximum flow rates, when
we change the combination of two factors; the operating frequency of the fixture and the
duration of water usage under the constant average values for the number of
simultaneous uses of water. However, there are large differences among the
instantaneous maximum flow rates, when we change the combination of two factors; the
duration of water usage and the discharge flow rate from fixture under the constant
volume of water consumption per one operation, open and close of the fixture.
Therefore, when we set up the calculating model, it is very important to give heed to the
decision of the discharge flow rates from the fixtures.
From the viewpoint of the practical plumbing design, it is suitable to apply the
average values of 60 seconds interval as for the instantaneous maximum flow rates.
Also, it is possible to make unit model of grouping the several fixtures, when we can
not grasp each fixture usage in a flat like black box.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their gratitude for the subsidy of science research from
the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Project number:
13450237, Head investigator: Saburo Murakawa)

References
1. S. Murakawa et al.: A study on the fluctuation of flow rates and calculating method
of water demand in apartment houses, CIB/W62 International Symposium on Water
Supply and Drainage for Buildings (Gavle), National Swedish Institute for Building
Research TN: 18, pp. 33-59 (1989)
2. S. Murakawa: Methods described in “HASS 206” and suggestion for calculation of
instantaneous maximum flow rate of water in buildings; Proceedings of the CIB/W62
International Symposium on Water and Drainage for Buildings (Washington D.C.),
pp.141-156 (1992)
3. S. Murakawa: Study on the method for calculating water consumption and water uses
in multi-story flats; Proceedings of the CIB/W62 International Symposium on Water
and Drainage for Buildings (Tokyo), C-1, pp.1-19 (1985)
4. S. Murakawa et al.: An estimate of water consumption in apartment houses according
to the analyses of dweller’s water usage; Proceedings of the CIB/W62 International
Symposium on Water and Drainage for Buildings (Brussels), B-2, pp.1-24 (1991)

Main author presentation

Saburo Murakawa is the Professor at Graduate school of
engineering, Hiroshima University,
1-4-1, Kagamiyama Higashi-hiroshima
739-8527, Japan

2002 CIB W62 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE FOR BUILDINGS C1-13
 INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
IN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
T E C H N IC A L U N IV E R S IT Y “G H .A S A C H I ” IA ŞI, R O M A N IA

2002 CIB W62 INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE FOR BUILDINGS C1-14