On-Line Leakage Detection in Buried Tap Water Distribution Pipes Using Distributed Temperature Sensing

The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of the distributed temperature sensing (DTS) method, which is based on Raman scattering, for detecting small leakages of tap water pipes. The temperature drop caused by water leakage was measured by DTS. A water pipe leakage sources method based on selective average threshold was proposed to capture temperature drop and locate tap water leakage points. The tests to detect leakages and to identify their locations in tap water pipes were conducted in lab-scale, medium-scale, and field-scale experiments. The medium-scale test demonstrated that DTS performed well with water pipes of different materials with multiple leakage points. The field trial results showed that DTS identified water leakage in the cast iron pipe with 0.5-m location error.