AWWA ACE93241

Within the framework of the activities addressed to the limitation of wastage, particular care has to be paid to the leakage of drinkable water from distribution networks. The Acoustic Emission Group of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) has prepared a code of practice on leak detection and location in water pipelines by Acoustic Emission using the cross-correlation method, which has shown its effectiveness in the last few years. The target is the standardization of the above method in order to detect and locate leaks from buried pipelines of distribution systems. This method is based on the analysis of random continuous noise due to leakages, either by using non-intrusive sensors in contact with the pipeline surface, or by intrusive sensors placed directly in the water. The topics outlined are: terms and definitions, application field, instrumentation, calibration, operating procedures and final report. They are here presented and discussed on the basis of direct in field inspections.