Steady state algorithm for leak diagnosis in water pipeline systems

Abstract

This work proposes an algorithm for leak diagnosis in pipelines based on a steady-state analysis. The motivation of this proposition arises from the fact that often leaks appear in specific locations in water pipeline systems, namely in between two consecutive pipeline stretches (junctions), according with experience of the staff of a real water distribution network. By dismissing other kind of leaks (as leaks in oil pipelines) for which other considerations must be taken into account, this work is focused to the most normal events of leaks in water pipeline systems, and here, the leak diagnosis problem is reduced to identify the junction where the leak occurs. To do that, a steady-state expression is obtained from the classical Water Hammer equations and it is used to compute a drop pressure head between the pipeline ends for each junction. Then this estimation is compared with the one computed by using the pressure head measurements. Finally for each case a residual can be generated and the junction position that produces a residual closer to zero is finally identified as the leak location. The main advantage of this proposition is that the uncertainties in the leak location are not longer important, i. e., the leak location can be given with an exact position as long as the configuration of the pipeline (possibly located underground) is well known. For sake of illustration, some examples are provided via simulations.