Multi-objective optimization of pressure sensor location for burst detection and network calibration

Abstract

This paper proposes a methodology to determine the optimal location of pressure sensors for the simul- taneous calibration of the hydraulic network model and the detection of pipe bursts. The methodology considers a search space reduction process and aims at maximizing nodal pressure sensitivities to both pipe roughness coefficients and pipe burst sizes. A multi-objective optimization problem is formulated for a given number of sensors and multiple optimal configurations of pressure sensors are obtained. Three different optimal configurations are selected and compared: one solution that individually maximizes each objective function (two solutions) and one trade-off solution. The methodology is applied to a real water distribution network with hourly consumption data. Results demonstrate that (i) the optimal loca- tion of pressure sensors hardly changes with the perturbation values used to numerically compute the sensitivities and (ii) minor differences can be found in the performance of pipe roughness calibration and pipe burst location by using either a solution that individually maximizes each objective function or the trade-off solution considering the high number of pressure sensors (26) and the oversized pipe diameters to comply with firefighting conditions, being pressure less sensitive to friction and flow rate changes.