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

这项研究的主要目的是研究和发展空间分析和劣化建模方法，以提高对管道破裂的理解和对水管破裂和劣化作为空间现象的预测。美国的供水系统正在老化，更频繁地出现问题，主要表现为水管破裂。水管破裂会导致供水中断、财产受损和水质问题，应避免。此外，随着水分配投资需求的增长而可用资源的减少，人们开始关注水务公司如何利用其资源来维护和更新其系统。如果管道破裂前的时间是确定的，则可以提前计划维护，避免管道破裂所导致的问题。已经进行了几项研究，以了解水系统及其组件的结构状况随着时间的推移是如何表现的。但是，了解管道条件在空间中的变化也很重要，因为导致管道劣化的因素(如土壤特性和表面荷载)会随着空间的不同而变化。然而，很少有研究明确针对管道劣化的空间方面，这项研究的主要长期社会效益是改善供水系统状况评估，并最终优化投资分配。预期的影响还包括发展能力，教授我们的土木工程和环境工程专业学生基础设施管理和环境领域的空间分析方法。人们认为，这是一个正在成为工程师分析能力的重要组成部分的领域。这项研究提供的经验和见解将与研究生分享。此外，还将举办一系列讲习班和研讨会，与从业人员和市政当局分享这项研究工作和概念的用处。此外，预计这项工作还将有助于扩大代表性不足群体参与研究的范围。将特别注意吸引学生，并从传统上在科学和工程领域代表性不足的群体中聘请研究助理从事这项研究。

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.