Automatic leak location in a pipe

Abstract

A real time method for detecting and locating leaks in pipes is analyzed. By monitoring pressure gradients of a pipe in a steady state operation, expressions that indicate the existence of a leak and its location are derived. For small leaks it is possible to deduce alternative expressions based on in- and outflow deviations from their nominal values. These deviations are estimated by means of a nonlinear dynamic flow observe,: It is an easy task to carry out this system and the detection and location algorithm requires low resources. As a result of this analysis if was found that the identifier is very sensitive to variations of the D'Arcy-Weissbach friction.