Using SCADA to Detect and Locate Bursts in a Long-Distance Water Pipeline

Pipe bursting is a serious problem for water supply systems. We propose a two-step burst detection and localization method for a long-distance water transportation pipeline. First, we use the Dempster–Shafer theory, an effective inference method for processing uncertain information, and combine two risk functions to identify a pipe burst. Then we identify the location of the burst point using a hydraulic model. The method is prototyped on a transportation pipeline in Guangzhou, China and tested with one-year historical records. The detection system correctly identified all the bursts and the alarm rate is acceptable for the system inspectors (average: two alarms/month). The burst location is identified within the acceptable limits of accuracy.