Shankar Narasimhan S

Leakage in water distribution systems is a growing concern throughout the world. Huge amounts of water and energy is wasted through undetected leaks and unauthorized usage in water distribution networks alongside potential health hazards caused by the leaky pipes. As most of the pipelines are buried underground, detecting a leak becomes a complex task. This work focuses on application of graph partitioning technique to Intermittent Water Distribution Networks for identification of leaks without use of a hydraulic model. The network structure is exploited to find the minimum number of valves to be closed or pipes to be isolated, and volume balance is carried out at each stage of partitioning to isolate the leak to a desired level of network resolution. This methodology is applied to a custom built, unique laboratory experimental setup that reflects intermittent water distribution network. The results demonstrate that the leaks can be localized to a smaller part of large network with the application of repeated graph partitioning technique.