Leak management in district metered areas with internal-pressure reducing valves

ABSTRACT

Pressure management is one of the most efficient ways to reduce leaks in water networks. Conventional pressure management techniques in water networks deals with the control of a single boundary Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV). The real-world water network under study in this work has multiple internal PRVs within the DMA, which makes direct application of the existing pressure management techniques difficult. In this study, we have formulated a simulation-optimization framework that involves network sectorization and PRV control. Initially, the DMA was divided into multiple Pressure Management Areas (PMAs), based on the location and control area of each PRV. The control strategy was then formulated for each PRV based on remote node modulation. The results of this study showed that the use of multiple internal PRVs within a DMA helped in better pressure management than a single boundary PRV. This control strategy helped in reducing the NRW to 18% from 24%.

KEYWORDS:

• Water distribution systems
• pressure management
• internal PRVs
• leakage reduction

Acknowledgements

This paper is output of a combined research carried out between Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore and Hitachi India Private Limited. The authors would like to thank IISc for supporting this collaboration and for providing the data for the study. The authors would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers of ‘Control and Computing in Water Industry (CCWI) Conference 2019ʹ and Urban Water Journal for their constructive reviews and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).