Failure Investigation of Water Distribution Systems in a Large City in China Based on the Pipe Failure Database
Publication: Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 13, Issue 2
Abstract
Water distribution systems (WDSs) are crucial urban infrastructures playing major roles in maintaining the social and economic functions of modern cities. Understanding the operation condition contributes to daily maintenance, asset management, and future planning for decision makers. This study statistically analyzes the operation condition of WDSs in a large city in China by using pipe basic and failure databases collected from local sectors. For the basic database, the distribution rules of pipe attributes, including region, material, depth, diameter, and joint type, are studied. For the failure database, the failure regions, occurrence times, types, and causes are analyzed. The relationships between failure percentages and pipe attributes are discussed, and the corresponding failure rates are calculated. The WDS is complex in the diversity of pipe materials, diameters, and joint types. Corrosion, aging, and temperature-related extreme weather are summarized as three main failure causes through the statistical analysis of the pipe failure database. Pipes with low depth, extended service period, small diameter, and hot melt joint have large failure percentages and rates. These findings demonstrate the current operation condition of WDS and contribute to failure prediction and asset management for decision makers.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFC0802400) is greatly appreciated.
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Published In
Journal of Pipeline Systems Engineering and Practice
Volume 13 • Issue 2 • May 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 22, 2021
Accepted: Nov 2, 2021
Published online: Jan 5, 2022
Published in print: May 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jun 5, 2022
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