Identification of factors that influence energy performance in water distribution system mains

This paper aims at identifying paramount hydraulic factors in energy dynamics of water mains, using Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The proposed method is applied to two large ensembles of leaky and non-leaky pipes comprising over 40,000 pipes selected from 18 North American water distribution systems to guarantee the versatility of pipe characteristics and statistical significance of the explored patterns. PCA mono-plots indicate energy metrics such as Net Energy Efficiency, Energy Lost to Friction and Energy Lost to Leakage serve better in identification of low from high efficiency pipes. In addition, PCA mono-plots and bi-plots reveal relative importance of hydraulic parameters and that average flow rate, hydraulic proximity to major components and average unit headloss can have more tangible effects on energy dynamics of pipes compared to leakage and average pressure. Some factors such as elevation, diameter and CHW are not as influential as expected in distinguishing high-efficiency from low-efficiency pipes. Further, a comparison between the approach used in this paper and a simplified common-practice replacement strategy points out the difference energy considerations can make, if included in a bigger asset management landscape.