Development of a Spatial Analysis Framework to Predict Critical Segments of Water Distribution Networks

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The main objective of this research is to investigate and develop spatial analysis and deterioration modeling methods in order to improve understanding of pipe breakage and the prediction of water pipe breaks and deterioration as phenomena in space. American water distribution systems are aging and more frequently presenting problems that are mostly visible as water pipe breaks. Water pipes breaks cause water supply interruption, damage to properties, and water quality issues and should be avoided. Also, as water distribution investment needs grow while available resources shrink, attention has been brought to the way water utilities use their resources to maintain and renew their systems. If the time until breakage of a pipe was known with certainty, maintenance could be planned in advance avoiding the problem that results from pipe breakage. Several studies have been done in order to understand how water systems and their components structural condition behave over time. However, understanding how pipe condition varies in space is also important because the factors that cause deterioration of pipes, such as soil characteristics and surface load, vary over space. Yet, few studies have explicitly targeted the spatial aspect of pipe deterioration.The major long term social benefit of this research is the improvement of water distribution system condition assessment and the eventual optimization of investment allocation. Expected impacts also include the development of competences to teach our civil and environmental engineering students means of spatial analysis both to the infrastructure management and environmental domains. It is believed that this is an area that is emerging as an important part of the analytical competence of engineers. The experience and the insights provided by this research will be shared with graduate students. In addition, a series of workshops and seminars to share the usefulness of this research work and concepts with practitioners and municipalities will be held. Also, it is expected that this work will also assist in broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in research. Special attention will be given to attract students and to hire research assistants from groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in science and engineering to work on this research.