Pressure Reducing Valve Characterization for Pipe System Management

Pressure control strategy through Pressure Reducing Valves (PRVs) has been deeply investigated as management strategy, aimed at water leakage reduction avoiding very expensive pipe replacement programmes. On the contrary, few experimental data are available in literature, particularly in unsteady-state conditions. In this paper, the results of some tests carried out at the Water Engineering Laboratory of the University of Perugia (I) in order to characterize a PRV with two set points for high and low pressures are presented. The PRV is installed in a single high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe supplied by a tank in which the pressure is assured by pumps of different characteristics. Two types of tests are considered: steady-state tests, to characterize the PRV, and extended period tests, to check its dynamic behaviour.