Calibration of Proportional Controllers for the RTC of Pressures to Reduce Leakage in Water Distribution Networks

Pressure control is a key issue for the reduction of water loss through leakage in municipal water distribution networks (WDNs). The paper presents a general method to calibrate the proportional controllers for the real time control (RTC) of motorized pressure valves in WDNs to reduce leakage during ordinary operation. The method is on the basis of the comprehensive dimensionless analysis of the behavior of simplified hydraulic systems under RTC scenarios. A numerical approach was used to derive a simple regressive relationship to tune the controller on the basis of the system dimensionless variables involved in the control process. The method was validated by application to a well-known bench-test water distribution network and compared with an existing literature calibration procedure. Results show that the proposed method allows for effective controller tuning and leads to performing leakage reduction-oriented real time control of pressures.