Automated mobile water leakage assessment system

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Despite humanity's absolute reliance on the increasingly scarce resource of potable water,25.4% of South Africa's water is lost due to leaks in the distribution network before it reaches the consumer. This figure is even worse in many developing countries. Because developing countries generally have a lack of technical skills, active leakage management techniques are not implemented, resulting in a large number of leaks being undetected.Current leak detection and assessment solutions are not well suited to the conditions of developing countries, due to the substantial cost thereof and the lacking practitioner skills.The work presented in this thesis describes the development of a mobile platform thatautomatically assesses a section of the Water Distribution System (WDS) to identify andcharacterise leaks, and transmits the data to an online platform for storage and furtheranalysis.The approach taken is to measure the resulting flow rates at discrete pressure levelsthat the proposed system applies to the assessed section of the WDS. According to theFixed And Variable Area Discharge (FAVAD) equation, this relationship can be used togive an indication of the size and type of apparent leaks, since round holes, longitudinalcracks, and circumferential cracks behave differently.The proposed mobile platform connects via a fire hydrant to a section of the WDS,which is isolated by shutting its mains and service valves, and executes the test at a pushof a button, making it suitable for low-skilled operators. Once the test is completed, theresults are transmitted to an online platform, where it can be analysed further and viewedby a water distributor or expert. The thesis presents the design and test procedures ofcontrol circuitry and software that are developed specifically with mobility and automationin mind.The consistency and accuracy of the system's results are experimentally tested onthree different leak types and three different pipe materials, namely polyvinyl chloride,high density polyethylene, and polypropylene, since these pipes are commonly used onmunicipal WDSs. The flow rate for the round holes were found to be more consistentthan the flow rate of the longitudinal cracks. The results also showed that leakages areeasily effected by small imperfections caused by leak manufacturing. The tests verified thesystem's ability to detect and characterise the leaks in terms of the FAVAD equation withdetected results corresponding to theoretically predicted values.The research objective of developing an automated mobile platform that assess leaksand transmit the results to an online analysis platform, was achieved. If the solution is deployed, it will enable water distributors to implement active leakage control and prioritise refurbishment projects.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University