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Statistical framework for the detection of pressure regulation malfunctions and issuance of alerts in water distribution networks

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Abstract

Pressure reducing valves (PRVs) are widely used to regulate pressures in the supply and distribution parts of water networks, by reducing the upstream pressure to a set outlet pressure (i.e., downstream of the PRV), usually referred to as set point. As all types of mechanical equipment, PRVs may exhibit malfunctions affecting pressure regulation, such as high frequency fluctuations around the set point and/or prolonged systematic deviations from the set point, allowing their detection to be approached in a statistical context. In this study, we develop a statistical framework for detection of PRV malfunctions in water supply and water distribution networks, which uses: (a) the root mean squared error as a proper statistical metric for monitoring the performance of PRVs by detecting individual malfunctions in high-resolution pressure time series, and (b) the hazard function concept to identify a proper duration of sequential events from (a) to issue alerts. The suggested methodology is implemented using pressure data at 1-min temporal resolution from pressure management area Diagora of the water distribution network of the city of Patras in Greece, for the 3-year period from 01/Jan./2017 to 31/Dec./2019. The obtained results show that the developed statistical approach effectively detects major PRV malfunctions as the issuance of alerts agrees well with the reported repair dates by the Municipal Enterprise of Water Supply and Sewerage of the City of Patras, allowing it to be used for operational purposes, while making it suitable for possible extensions to continuous monitoring and fault diagnosis of other types of mechanical equipment.

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Acknowledgements

This research work has been conducted within the project PerManeNt, which has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE (Project Code: T2EDK-04177). The Authors would like to explicitly acknowledge the constructive comments and suggestions received by two anonymous Reviewers, which helped them to improve the presented work.

Funding

This research work has been conducted within the project PerManeNt, which has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union and Greek national funds through the Operational Program Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the call RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE (Project Code: T2EDK-04177).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, University Campus, 26504, Patras, Rio, Greece

    Anastasios Perdios, George Kokosalakis & Andreas Langousis

  2. Department of Maritime Transport and Logistics, School of Business and Economics, Deree American College of Greece, Athens, Greece

    George Kokosalakis

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, University of the Peloponnese, Patras, Greece

    Nikolaos Th. Fourniotis

  4. Municipal Enterprise of Water Supply and Sewerage of the City of Patras, Patras, Greece

    Irene Karathanasi

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  1. Anastasios Perdios
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  2. George Kokosalakis
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  3. Nikolaos Th. Fourniotis
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  4. Irene Karathanasi
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  5. Andreas Langousis
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Correspondence to Andreas Langousis.

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Perdios, A., Kokosalakis, G., Th. Fourniotis, N. et al. Statistical framework for the detection of pressure regulation malfunctions and issuance of alerts in water distribution networks. Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess 36, 4223–4233 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-022-02256-5

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