Leakage detection in water distribution networks by the use of analytical and experimental models

Abstract

Abstract Recently, calibration based methods are considered to determine the quantities and locations of all leakages in a water distribution network (WDN), simultaneously. In this paper, the accuracy of detecting leakages using Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) in two networks including a hypothetical and a laboratory network is investigated. A novel method is introduced to analyze the effects of measurement errors on demand calibration in an under-determined problem. The results confirm the ability of the optimization-based method in detecting the exact locations and values of the leakages in a WDN. Also, it is emphasized that merely suitable fitnesses cannot provide sufficient confidence in result accuracy. To overcome this difficulty, the correctness of leakage detection can be verified in a sampling design problem. Moreover, to check the reliability of leakage detection an alternative method based on various results is introduced in this research.