Methods for the localization of a leak in open water channels

Abstract

In this paper, we present two methods for determining the positionof a leak in an open water channel. The available measurementsare the water level and the gate position at the upstream anddownstream end of a channel reach. We assume that the size of theleak and the time it started are already estimated by aleak-detection method. Both of the proposed methods make use of anonlinear Saint-Venant equation model of the channel where theleak is modelled as a lateral outflow. The first method makes useof a bank of $N$ models corresponding to $N$ possible positions ofthe leak along the channel. The estimated position of the leak isdetermined by the model which minimizes a quadratic cost function.The second method is based on the same principle except that ituses observers instead of pure models. The methods are tested onboth real and simulated data from the Coleambally Channel 6 inAustralia. It is further shown that the determination of theposition of a leak is an inherently difficult problem.