Water Use Estimation and Leak Detection Using Transient Pressure Data in Field Pipeline Systems

To support sustainable water management and food production in pipeline systems, this study proposes a novel method for estimating water use, leak location, and leak discharge by applying inverse transient analysis (ITA) to pressure transient data. The effectiveness of the method was validated in a real, long-distance pipeline system. The results demonstrated that the proposed approach could estimate flow rates with an accuracy of approximately 2–4% relative to measurements and identify leak locations with a precision of less than 1% of the total pipeline length. The study also revealed that calibration of the spatial distribution of wave speed is essential, particularly for leak detection, and that referencing multiple sets of pressure transient data significantly improves the accuracy of the results. These findings suggest that the proposed method can be applied in the future to enable non-destructive, pressure-transient-based assessment of pipeline water use, leakage, and condition deterioration.