Burst Leak Detection Systems for Water Distribution Pipelines

In most countries it is still legal to search for your answer using a search engine.

• Products & Suppliers
• 
  

Yes, but, the key phrase in the post is:

"does anyone know of any installed systems which is successfully operating."

I believe this is a request for anyone who has actually used such a system to come forward and say that this manufacturer's product works as advertised. One has no idea what one is getting from an internet search. Crooks get equal space on the internet as scrupulous manufacturers.

Yes absolutely correct many make claims of having a system but when investigating further there are no reference sites to justify the claims. There are many portable systems on the market but I've yet to come across and installed system. I know I can use simple flow and pressure nodes and then develop the algorithms to identify ta substantial leak and burst but not to pinpoint with any great accuracy the location. still hoping someone out there has experience of a successful system.

As previously described, we run a manual system that relies upon plant operators and other interested staff to monitor through our SCADA network. While this is not ideal, we have reduced reported ILI from 13% to 8% in the last two years and are using this as justification to investigate the more expensive automatic options.

There is also a city council in Queensland (Australia) that has migrated to smart metering for the whole network including domestic meters. If you google "Smart meter networks" or similar you will probably find them. If I remember the name, I'll send another response later.

Have you considered installing a network of pressure transmitters in the pipeline distribution network, and whichever one takes a sudden dip is the one section that failed. You will see the point of failure from the apparent geyser.

Hi James

Yes that was one of the first designs together with flow measurement but some boffin has read about reflective wave pressures and ability to pinpoint the actual leakage or burst to within 5mts. I have also read the same literature and white papers but have never found any installed systems to verify the claims.

Hello,

We also have "acoustic" sensors that can be used to achieve fault location to within 0.5m on each 100m run. The problem is that with over 1300km of pipes, the cost of install and infrastructure to monitor is currently prohibitive.

We fit these sensors once a leak is suspected in a smaller network and then let them run overnight. They are termed "correlators" and are good for that type of work. They spend typically 28 days per month in their box in the depot. We also use them for leaks that are under major infrastructure so that we don't dig out all lanes of a freeway.

There are companies offering the technology you describe as permanent installations, and we have evaluated two already and found they were not "value for money" compared to our current system. We predict that the changeover point will happen around three years from now based on their relative cost curves and technology adoption.

We are however hedging on "the internet of things" where such sensors may already be available in other infrastructure components and then it will only be a matter of enabling those data streams.

The best we currently have "real time" will identify the suburb where the break happens, the time that it happened and it's relative magnitude. (Cuts it down to around 25km of mains.)

For domestic aplications you might research "aquatrip" and similar items on internet. These work on customer meters and can be set to alarm or cut supply depending on property owner preference. We have one customer using around 35L/sec (yes, that's 25 liters per second) who have such installed with alarms to their maintenance staff for unexpected losses. They do not cut supply as their inventory and health regulations require strict compliance. An abattoir.) These meters are "smart" in that they train themselves to normal usage patterns and then respond to deviations.

If small leaks are what you seek, and in Dubai, then I would look for the wet spot in the sand and dig there. Or if grass and/or weeds suddenly start growing in the middle of someone's sandlawn. (Please understand that I am merely spoofing you a tad bit).

I wonder what the frequency spectrum of your pressure/flow transmitters is, and if the upper cut-off frequency could still be utilized to find the leak signature, and then use network amplitudes of this high frequency component to find leaks without any further necessary equipment? If the instrument only updates at 0.5-1.0 Hz you will not find anything, but if the sensor itself can be "hacked" to add on a high frequency card right before any analog signal processing/averaging, maybe. This would still be a wild cost, but perhaps less than a whole new sensor array, long cables etc.

Spoofing appreciated need some smiling difficult to see the damp sand from inside Hummer and blackened windows plus the old Ray's on plus most villas now have the lawns and swimming pools which may flourish and fill without being too obvious in party season and all the spillage that occurs then.

Still a little surprised no one has proof positive of a fully functioning system bit like big foot , yeti and the big black cat ?. There allegedly out there

Finding Bigfoot evidence is probably directly proportional to how much money is willing to be paid in reward (given that no vetting of the evidence can be made). I am starting to wonder also if that is the case for water networks. Maybe it is time for the little nanobots in the drinking water? Sounds a bit like "The Matrix". But suppose these little bots were in the water, and could only be released outside by a leak, or by someone "blowing down a strainer". Could you not find the ones that were released by the leak if they Xmit a homing beacon?

I have had the best residential leak detector at no supplementary cost! It worked six times, in a 15 years period (cheap house, cheap galvanized water pipes running in the attic). As I said, perfect detection, six times. Well, this device is...the sheetrock ceiling, that curves, and curves, and accumulates the leaked water which releases it, after the breakdown limit. That's why I replaced the water pipes with cpvc ones. The problem, now, is I don't have, any more, a leak....detector

Welcome to the forum.

I'm guessing from your name that you're not in Australia.

There are a few systems available from various international suppliers.

Takadu seem to have a world wide presence, specifically in this sort of venture and pipe size. They charge an annual rate per km of pipe in the network, are cloud based and monitor the bulk flow meters in your network.

Schneider are offering a system that is designed to optimise network operations through SCADA technology that has capability to detect bursts as "abnormal" events. They charge based on maximum daily processed volume rather than pipe length.

Most SCADA systems have the means to interrogate the core data and develop internal software to investigate "abnormal flow events". Metering companies offering "zone metering" would have the capability that you are seeking. These just charge for the hardware and you have to develop the monitoring methods and decision protocols.

Depending on your level of integration and the "risk" associated with the pipeline contents, your selection could be from any of those or others that will doubtlessly be suggested.

We are currently running "SWIFT", but that is no longer locally supported and are moving onto a recent SCADA release. (1500km of water mains in our network, mostly 900mm or smaller, but some up to 2400mm, around 60 reservoirs. Some mains 35km or more cross country, through forest etc.)

We find that monitoring minimum night flows is allowing us to predict about 75% of bursts before they happen and can be repaired with the water main still "on line" and before significant/spectacular failures happen.

Hi. Yes,you can install sensing cable(fiber optic) with connection to main pump station. the cable installed 10cm paralel from the the water pipe. Alex

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/25656/Caption-This-for-02-13-15