Assessing water mains condition using hydraulic transients

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential of using controlled hydraulic transients for non-intrusive assessment of the internal condition of water transmission pipelines. Deterioration of pipelines is a natural process. An effective tool for evaluating the state of pipeline interiors could be extremely useful for planning rehabilitation or identifying critical points in a system. A non-intrusive technique for evaluating the state of the internal surface of a pipeline is introduced. The total length of the pipeline was divided into a number of segments and the condition of each segment assessed based on the transient response corresponding to that interval. In addition to quantification of the deterioration level of different sections of the pipeline, critical points were identified where closer investigation was suggested. The proposed technique, although in an early stage of development, was tested on a real pipeline.