The use of numerical simulations to improve the management of water distribution networks (WDNs) has dramatically increased in recent decades. Nevertheless, the modeling of leakages is still a major issue to face when setting up a model of a WDN. Because water losses increase at increasing pressure, they are usually modeled by assuming a leakage node behaves like an emitter. Unfortunately, a definitive assessment of the leakage law exponent is as yet lacking in the literature. Consequently, a field analysis was carried out on an existing WDN: (a) to assess whether the power law can effectively represent the relationship between leakage and pressure; and (b) to calculate the value of the exponent. A 3-month measurement campaign was developed, aiming at assessing the dependence of the losses to the pressure. The analysis showed that the power law equation with an exponent around 0.7 can well represent the pressure–leakage relationship.
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Research Article|
October 11 2016
Experimental assessment of pressure–leakage relationship in a water distribution network
Nicola Fontana;
Nicola Fontana
1Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi del Sannio, Piazza Roma, 21, Benevento, Italy
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Maurizio Giugni;
Maurizio Giugni
2Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Edile e Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, via Claudio, 21, Napoli, Italy
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Gustavo Marini
1Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi del Sannio, Piazza Roma, 21, Benevento, Italy
E-mail: gustavo.marini@unisannio.it
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Water Supply (2017) 17 (3): 726–732.
Article history
Received:
February 04 2016
Accepted:
September 28 2016
Citation
Nicola Fontana, Maurizio Giugni, Gustavo Marini; Experimental assessment of pressure–leakage relationship in a water distribution network. Water Supply 1 May 2017; 17 (3): 726–732. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2016.171
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