Inverse optimization based detection of leaks from simulated pressure in water networks, Part 1: Analysis for a single leak

The ability to easily detect leaks in water networks enables prompt repairs thereby reducing the duration of a leak. This study uses a minimization approach related to the Monte Carlo method to detect leakage in water networks that do not have continuous real time pressure-measuring systems, using a hydraulic model of the network. The model works very well in detecting leaks occurring in a gridded network while it performs below average for leaks occurring in branched areas. Reference pressures are obtained by introducing a leak of known magnitude into the network model by changing the emitter coefficient of a reference node. Reference pressures are compared with several simulated pressures from randomly simulated leaks. The leaking node is found as the most frequent node–emitter–coefficient combination for which the objective function is minimised. A minimum of eight reference points is required for a leak to be detected in any part of the network.