Traditional Leakage Models for Leakage Modelling: Effective or Not?

Accurate models are critical for the effective management of leaks in our water distribution systems. The increased use of plastic pipes has emphasised the need to assess the ability of current leakage assessment tools in quantifying the real losses from complex time and pressure dependent leaks. The numerical study presented in this paper shows that traditional Minimum Night Flow (MNF) analyses provide good approximations of the leak response, when the loading history and discrete pressure regimes are accounted for, of leaks in viscoelastic pipe. The time and dependent nature of such leaks are of greater significance when the response to short time period pressure transients are quantified, important for active leakage control methodologies in particular.