Method for identifying the source of pressure transient in a water network

1. A method for identifying the source of pressure transients in a water distribution network comprising a plurality of high-frequency pressure sensors installed therein, said method comprising:

an acquisition step to acquire a plurality of pressures values for each high frequency pressure sensor during a preset time limit, said plurality of pressures values defining a sampled pressure variation record nearby each sensor during said preset time limit;

a detection step for detecting transient events amongst the sampled pressure variation record, wherein every detected transient event is associated with a corresponding signature;

a grouping step for grouping detected transient events in the sampled pressure variation record; the transient events corresponding to the same signature being grouped together; and

a localization step for localizing the source of said grouped transient events in function of said sampled pressure variation records, comprising a cross-checking sub-step comparing said grouped transients with external information data received from at least one other device cooperating with said water distribution network, in order to correlate a group of transient events with a cooperating device operation; the external information data comprising a least information related to a pump operation and/or a valve operation and/or an important customer consumption and/or a fire hydrant operation.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the cross-checking sub-step comprises comparing said grouped transients with operations and consumptions records of a water company database.

3. The method according to claim 1 , comprising a pressure modulation step modulating high pressures in the water network by detecting, for each group of transient events a maximum pressure value, and to determine a regulation measure on the water network to reduce said maximum pressure value, in function of the group transient events and in function of the localization of the source of said transient event group.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein, in the detection step, for each sampled pressure variation record of each high-frequency pressure sensor, each pressure variation exceeding a predefined threshold for a short-time predefined timeframe is detected as a transient event.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the grouping step comprises a preliminary filtering step configured to remove from grouping irrelevant transient events in function of their shape and/or amplitude and/or frequency and/or duration.

6. The method according to claim 1 , said external information data comprising a timestamp associated with a cooperating device operation or a position associated with the cooperating device operation.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the grouping step comprises the grouping of transient events detected in different records associated with different sensors, in a same timeframe.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein said same timeframe being calculated in function of a pressure-wave propagation model in said water network, in order to group each transient being potentially emitted from a same source.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the localization step comprises a triangulation sub-step for determining a position of a transient event source in function of a group of transient events detected by different sensors in a same timeframe.

10. The method according to claim 1 , comprising a step of severity estimation wherein every group of transient events is associated with a severity score calculated in function of the shape and/or amplitude and/or frequency and/or duration of every transient of the group and in function of the estimated localization of the group of transient events.

11. The method according to claim 1 , comprising a mitigation step for mitigating pressure transient events in function of the localization of the source of said transient event group and/or in function of cooperating device operation.

12. A device configured to identify the source of pressure transients in a water distribution network comprising a plurality of high-frequency pressure sensors installed therein, said device being configured to:

a) acquire a plurality of pressures values for each high frequency pressure sensor during a preset time limit, said plurality of pressures values defining a sampled pressure variation record nearby each sensor during said preset time limit;

b) detect transient events amongst the sampled pressure variation record, wherein every detected transient event is associated with a corresponding signature;

c) group detected transient events in the sampled pressure variation record, the transient events corresponding to the same signature being grouped together; and

d) localize the source of said grouped transient events in function of said sampled pressure variation records comprising implementing a cross-checking sub-step comparing said grouped transients with external information data received from at least one other device cooperating with said water distribution network, in order to correlate a group of transient events with a cooperating device operation; the external information data comprising a least information a data related to a pump operation and/or a valve operation and/or an important customer consumption and/or a fire hydrant operation.

13. A drinking-water network comprising a plurality of high-frequency pressure sensors, and a device for identifying the source of pressure transients according to claim 12 .