In-Situ Leak Detection in Urban Water Supply Pipelines Using Flexible Vibration Sensors

The urban water supply pipeline network is an important infrastructure for the survival and development of cities, and its leak problem has long lacked efficient detection methods. Existing leak detection methods mainly have limitations in micro-leakage detection and large-scale deployment and are susceptible to environmental interference. This work presents an urban water supply pipeline leak detection method based on flexible piezoelectric sensors. The flexibility of the thin film sensor allows it to be directly attached to curved pipe walls, enabling in-situ monitoring of local leakages. The acquired vibration leakage signals are further processed, and a support vector machine (SVM) algorithm is used to classify leakage conditions to various levels with a high accuracy of more than 95%.