Water distribution system failure: a framework for forensic analysis

M. Shafiqul Islam, Rehan Sadiq (), Manuel J. Rodriguez, Homayoun Najjaran, Alex Francisque and Mina Hoorfar
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M. Shafiqul Islam: The University of British Columbia
Rehan Sadiq: The University of British Columbia
Manuel J. Rodriguez: Université Laval
Homayoun Najjaran: The University of British Columbia
Alex Francisque: The University of British Columbia
Mina Hoorfar: The University of British Columbia

Environment Systems and Decisions, 2014, vol. 34, issue 1, 168-179

Abstract: Abstract The main purpose of a water distribution system (WDS) is to deliver safe water of desirable quality, quantity and continuity to consumers. However, in many cases, a WDS fails to fulfill its goal owing to structural and associated hydraulic failures and/or water quality failures. The impact of these failures can be reduced significantly if preventive actions are taken based on their potential of occurrences or if a failure occurs and is detected within a minimum period of time after its occurrence. The aim of this research was to develop a forensic system for WDS failures. As part of the proposed forensic analysis, a framework has been developed, which investigates structural and associated hydraulic failures as well as water quality failures and integrates all failure investigation under a single platform. Under this framework, four different models have been developed to evaluate and identify structural and associated hydraulic failures and water quality failures. If a failure is detected in the system, the framework is capable of identifying the most probable location of the failure. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed framework, the developed models have been tested and implemented in different WDSs.

Keywords: Water distribution system; Leakage; Water quality failure potential; Fuzzy sets; Forensic analysis; TOPSIS; OWA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10669-013-9464-3

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