Leakage detection in water networks

Research topics Fault detection| Utilities | Water Networks | Machine Learning

Description

Water is a fundamental and increasingly scarce resource for life. Water transmission pipelines lose an average of 20% to 30% of the water transmitted through them, up to above 50% in old systems with poor maintenance. Therefore, there is a need to prevent the threat of leaks and minimize their damages through extensive research in leak detection technology.
A major challenge for leak detection is the lack of measurements, as sensors are placed sparsely in the network and meter readings are available only in some cases. The project will investigate if machine learning can be used to complement sparse sensor data to detect the presence and localise leaks in a water distribution network (WDN).
The project will include: exploration of the available data and topology; design of a novel detection technique; testing the detection method on known leakage events; analysis of the results and possible comparisons.