Smart Water Grid: Correlator Leak Localization

Leak Location

Position along pipe 50%

Pressure Wave

Wave speed v 60 m/s

Select a pipe, set the leak position, and trigger the transient.

Correlator Readout

Arrival @ Sensor A

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Arrival @ Sensor B

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Estimated leak position (from A)

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Localization error

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How it works

A leak creates a sudden, localized pressure drop that launches a transient wave travelling in both directions along the pipe at the fluid's wave speed (celerity) v. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) pressure/acoustic correlator sensors sit at each end of a monitored pipe segment of known length L and timestamp the moment the transient reaches them.

t_A = x / v        (leak at distance x from sensor A)
t_B = (L - x) / v  (distance L - x from sensor B)

Δt = t_B - t_A

Correlator equation (solve the two lines above for x):
  x_est = (L - v·Δt) / 2

This is the real correlation technique smart water networks use for non-visible leak detection: no digging, no visual inspection — just two synchronized sensors, the known pipe wave speed, and the arrival-time difference. Utilities typically achieve accuracy within a few metres over segments tens to hundreds of metres long.

Pipe buttons — choose which monitored segment the leak occurs on.
Position slider — moves the true (unknown-to-the-algorithm) leak location along that pipe.
Wave speed — real water-hammer celerity in rigid pipe is ≈1000–1400 m/s; this sim uses a slowed value so the transient is visible, without changing the governing physics.
Trigger — launches the transient; the two arrival times are fed into the equation above to estimate the leak's position, which you can compare to where you actually placed it.

Pipe network Pressure sensor node True leak location Transient wavefront

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