Optimal sensor placement for contamination detection and identification in water distribution networks under demand uncertainty

Abstract

Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) are one of the most important critical infrastructures in any nation. WDNs are often prone to either accidental or intentional contamination. Intentional contamination, like terrorist attacks on WDNs, can lead to poisoned water, causing many fatalities and large economic consequences. In order to protect against these attacks, an efficient sensor network design is required by placing a limited number of sensors in the network. In this work, we will design sensor networks to satisfy two criteria, namely, observability (ability to detect the contamination) and identifiability ability to detect and identify the contamination source). Hydraulic simulations are performed on a WDN subjected to variable demand conditions. We will map the problem of the sensor network to a minimum set cover problem. A greedy heuristic algorithm is used to obtain the sensor network design under variable demand conditions. The proposed methodology is illustrated on a real life WDN.