Bank of nonlinear observers for the detection of multiple leaks in a pipeline

This paper extends the procedure reported by Verde for multiple leaks detection in a pipeline assuming a linear model to the nonlinear case. The residual generation problem is tackled into two parts. First, the nonlinear subsystem that is only decoupled of one leak and is coupled to the rest of the considered leaks is obtained. Since this sub-system for each leak satisfies a triangular form, the second part of the procedure involves the design of a set of nonlinear observers to generate the residuals which are sensitive to the leaks set. The procedure is validated taking real data of a water pilot pipeline of 132mts long.

Coordinate transformation for nonlinear systems; Multiple-leaks detection and isolation in pipelines; Residual generator vectors for nonlinear systems Kalman filtering; Leak detection; Linear systems; Mathematical models; Mathematical transformations; Observability; Partial differential equations; Water pipelines; Coordinate transformation; Multiple leaks isolation; Nonlinear observers; Residual generation problem; Nonlinear control systems

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