Creation and Calibration of Hydraulic Model for Leakage Management in Water Distribution Systems

Leaks occur at different rates in water distribution systems (WDSs). Network characteristics, high pressure, environmental factors and operational factors are effective on leaks. Field detection and monitoring activities should be implemented to reduce the volume of leaks resulting from faults in the WDS. The aim of this study is to create and calibrate the district metered area (DMA) based hydraulic model to understand the network behavior and monitor the hydraulic components. The hydraulic model is based on consumption data, network topology, characteristics and pipe roughness information. Calibration should be performed by comparing the pressures obtained from the model with the pressures measured in the field in order to apply the model in leakage management. Incomplete or incorrect network information may cause the difference between these two pressures to be large. In particular, basic data such as incomplete creation of the network topology, incomplete or incorrect acquisition of roughness and consumption information are effective in not providing model calibration. In the calibrated hydraulic model, it is possible to detect and prevent potential leaks by monitoring pressure changes at the nodes. It is thought that the results obtained in this study will constitute a reference in leakage management and hydraulic analysis.