2012/07/02 by James D. Shucksmith, James Shucksmith, Joby Boxall +6 · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · #Geophysical Methods and Applications #High voltage insulation and dielectric phenomena #Water Systems and Optimization
paper · doi:10.5942/jawwa.2012.104.0108
openalex publication_date 2012/07/02 · crossref created 2012/07/02 · crossref issued 2012/08/01 · crossref published 2012/08/01 · crossref published-online 2012/08/01 · crossref published-print 2012/08/01 · crossref deposited 2023/09/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/30 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Leakage is a major source of lost revenue in pipeline distribution networks. In UK water distribution networks, the amount of treated water lost within distribution networks can reach up to 40% of the total supply. Existing leakage location techniques are heavily dependent on acoustic sensing, which can perform poorly in situations in which the noise created by a leak is small or attenuates rapidly. A reliable, nonacoustic‐based location technique would be a significant advance for the water industry. The work presented here applies a pressure transient‐based technique for leak location, which has previously only been tested under laboratory conditions, to a live water distribution network. The method has the potential to increase the speed and accuracy of leak locations and reduce the occurrence of inaccurate leak diagnosis. A single device that fits to standard fire hydrants is used to generate a mild transient and collect the required data. This method is based on analyzing pressure waves reflected by leaks and other features in a pipeline and accurately identifies reflections in measurements of the small pressure wave caused by pipeline features, including leaks. The technique requires accurate estimation of the wave propagation speed; a simple empirical approach for determining this is included.