Use of Water Hammer Damping Parameter for Non-Destructive Detection of Leakage Phenomena in Pump-Driven Pipeline With Strain Measurement

Key Points

• The study aims to extend water hammer damping techniques to detect leaks in existing pipeline systems using strain measurements.
• Applied water hammer damping to measure leak-induced strains and pressures in irrigation pipelines.
• Created simulated leak scenarios in a pump-water tank system.
• Measured water pressure and strain with specialized gauges to estimate leak locations.
• Estimated leak position with 6.1-13.3% error margin using pressure measurements.
• Estimated leak position with 5.3-33.6% error margin using strain measurements.
• Showed that the method can effectively identify leaks in existing pipelines with challenging reflection wave conditions.