Leak location procedure based on the complex-valued FastICA blind deconvolution algorithm for water-filled branch pipe

Abstract

Abstract Water pipe networks have a large number of branch joints. Branch joint shunting generates vortices in the fluid, which excite the pipe wall to produce a type of branch noise. The branch noise is coupled with the leak source signal through the pipe. Here, a novel leak location protocol based on the complex-valued FastICA method (C-FastICA) is proposed to address the leak location problem under the branch noise interference. The C-FastICA, a complex-value domain blind deconvolution algorithm, effectively extended the cost function, constraint function, and iteration rules of the instantaneous linear FastICA into the complex-valued domain. The C-FastICA method was used to realize the separation of branch noise and leak source signal. The experimental results showed that the separation efficiency of the C-FastICA was higher than that of time-domain blind convolution separation (T-BCS). Furthermore, the relative location error of the C-FastICA method to the leak point was less than 14.238%, which was significantly lower than in traditional T-BCS and direct cross-correlation (DCC) technology.