NSSN delivers world-first technologies for leak detection in urban pipes
The NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) has released the Final Project Report for its flagship R&D program: Advanced Pipe Sensing to Reduce Leaks and Breaks.
Coordinated by the NSSN, the collaborative program brought together 13 water utility, university and industry partners to reduce the loss of water from metropolitan water pipes.
NSSN Co-Director Professor Benjamin Eggleton said this is the first time such a comprehensive smart sensing approach has been taken to address urban water leakage.
“The program has considered a range of technology readiness levels and configurations, whether it be sensors in the pipe, attached to the pipe, above the ground, in the air or data analytics,” Professor Eggleton said.
“We have pushed new technologies into real-world systems and have been able to quantify the benefit of smart sensing in terms of reduced water leakage and the associated monetary value.”
The 13 collaborating partners were Sydney Water, Downer Group, Hunter Water, Water NSW, Melbourne Water, SA Water, Queensland Urban Utilities, UK Water Industry Research in the United Kingdom (UKWIR), Intelligent Water Network (IWN), and four NSSN member universities including The Australian National University (ANU), University of Newcastle (UON), University of New South Wales (UNSW), and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
The NSSN was the key to managing, facilitating and administrating the organisation. The program consisted of five projects drawing on Acoustic Sensing, Data Analytics, Distributed Acoustic Sensing, LiDAR Sensing and Quantum Sensing.
All projects have delivered well on their original promise Professor Eggleton said.
“The Quantum Sensing project has moved the dial on leading-edge science, and the Distributed Acoustic Sensing project has translated technology from another sector – defence – for first-ever trials in the water industry.”
NSSN Development Manager and author of the Final Project Report, Dr Don McCallum, said each of the projects has threads of enquiry suitable for further research.
“Concepts around the fusion of multiple sensors and analysis of multiple data sets should be explored by combining the results of this Program and other developments,” noted Dr McCallum.
“The considerable amount of research undertaken in this [project] has shown how sensor fusion can be industry-driven to meet the needs of water utilities.
“Outcomes of this research should be disseminated to mining, oil and gas, environmental studies, civil engineering, defence and many other industries where pipe elements and networks exist.”
Key findings
Project One: Quantum Sensing
A world-first, the major achievement of this project was the validation of detection of underground water plumes using gravity measurement. The project successfully identified water plumes created via water injection near buried water mains in two trials with varying soil and background conditions.
Project Two: Distributed Acoustic Sensing
The world-first trial demonstrated through test and validation that hydrophone arrays could be used to detect leaks in water mains. It confirmed this technology could be translated from open ocean applications to the water industry. Pre-established leaks of various sizes were successfully detected at distances greater than 40 metres; leak types were acoustically characterised in the test pipe environment; background noise recordings were obtained and signal to noise ratios (SNRs) were calculated for all recorded leaks; and a method of array insertion for pipe testing was created and tested.
Project Three: Acoustic Sensing
In the key trials up to October 2020, 37 leaks and two breaks were detected by the various acoustic sensors. A large portion of these hidden leaks were subsequently repaired almost immediately. Others required further investigations and planning prior to repair.
The overall success was based on the review and practical assessment of commercially available acoustic sensors for leak detection; operational integration within Sydney Water for planning and sensor deployment; joint collation, review and report on leak verifications; and review of existing sensing experiences from utility partners and practical learnings. Project savings from sensor deployments have been estimated to be up to $3 million and 700ML/year.
Project Four: Data Analytics
Data on over 365,000 pipes in the Sydney Water network were analysed and a failure prediction model created. This analysis generated a priority list table and heat map to indicate pipes likely to fail. The failure prediction was cross-checked against real failures every three months. The validations are found to be approximately 80% detection rate if 20% pipes are inspected and also spatially predicted within 200m. Very few predictions around the world achieve similar outcomes.
Project Five: LiDAR, Soil and Corrosion
LiDAR technology, through elevation and intensity data, can enable the water industry to increase asset management effectiveness. The topographic indices that were calculated from existing airborne LiDAR from the NSW Government estimated relative soil moisture and infer a corrosion pitting depth per year. The drone based LiDAR intensity was able to distinguish between dry background soil moisture and a simulated leak which increased soil moisture. This demonstrated that LiDAR information, either from stored data sets, or specifically acquired using drone fly-bys over target regions, could be used to sense leaking underground pipes.
Media: Shahrzad Abbasi
M: 0466 548 145
E: Shahrzad.abbasi@nssn.org.au