Experimental Study Employing EMI-based Piezoelectric Diaphragms to Detect Water Leakages in PVC Pipes

Considering the increased demand for using natural resources sustainably, water is an ultra-valuable resource to be preserved. Notwithstanding, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipes, which are mainly used in complex building water distribution systems, are still in use and present a considerable rate of water loss. Unfortunately, the recently developed Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) has not deeply covered leaks in those pipes. To fill this gap, this approach proposes an experimental study to assess the feasibility of using Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) diaphragms to detect water leaks in these structures. Experimental tests were conducted by attaching one PZT diaphragm to a mini-scale water distribution system, where the leakage scenarios were simulated by opening taps. To attest to the effectiveness of the methodology, it calculated statistical metrics between the baseline (without leaks) and unknown conditions. The experimental results are promising and may be extrapolated to detect water losses in a full-scale water-distributing system.