An Integrated Bottom-Up Approach for Leak Detection in Water Distribution Networks Based on Assessing Parameters of Water Balance Model

Loss of water due to leakage is a common phenomenon observed practically in all water distribution networks (WDNs). However, the leakage volume can be reduced significantly if the occurrence of leakage is detected within minimal time after its occurrence. Based on the discriminative behavior of different consumption in water balance, an integrated bottom-up water balance model is presented for leak detection in WDNs. The adaptive moment estimation (Adam) algorithm is employed to assess the parameters in the model. By analyzing the current value and the rising rate of the assessed parameters, abnormal events (e.g., leak, illegal use, or metering inaccuracy) could be detected. Furthermore, a one-step-slower strategy is proposed to estimate the weighted coefficient of pressure sensors to provide approximate location information of leak. The method was applied in a benchmark WDN and an experimental WDN to evaluate its performance. The results showed that relatively small leak could be detected in near-real-time. In addition, the method was able to identify the pressure sensors near to the leak. View Full-Text