Goulet, James-A.Coutu, SylvainSmith, Ian F. C.2013-10-012013-10-012013-10-01201310.1016/j.aei.2013.01.001https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/95098WOS:000318828500010Pressurized pipe networks used for fresh-water distribution can take advantage of recent advances in sensing technologies and data-interpretation to evaluate their performance. In this paper, a leak-detection and a sensor placement methodology are proposed based on leak-scenario falsification. The approach includes modeling and measurement uncertainties during the leak detection process. The performance of the methodology proposed is tested on a full-scale water distribution network using simulated data. Findings indicate that when monitoring the flow velocity for 14 pipes over the entire network (295 pipes) leaks are circumscribed within a few potential locations. The case-study shows that a good detectability is expected for leaks of 50 L/min or more. A study of measurement configurations shows that smaller leak levels could also be detected if additional pipes are instrumented. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.System identificationLeak detectionSensor placementData interpretationWater distributiontext::journal::journal article::research article