Better understanding of the capacity of pressure sensor systems to detect pipe burst within water distribution networks

Abstract

Leakage or pipe burst detection, often carried out by using the pressure sensor systems (PSSs) within a water distribution network (WDN), is critical to enable such networks to operate in a safe manner. The majority of previous studies have focused on either the advancement of detection equipment or the development of detection algorithms (leakage localization or sensor deployment). In contrast, this paper proposes a methodology to investigate the underlying capacity of existing PSSs for pipe burst detection using a set of quantitative metrics. These metrics focus on the identification of (1) nodes where bursts cannot be detected by the PSS (undetectable nodes); (2) undetectable demands, der..