Research on water distribution systems from the past to the future: a bibliometric review

ABSTRACT Water distribution systems play a vital role in the transportation of drinking water. By the combination of traditional literature review, bibliometric analysis and scientific knowledge mapping, this study evaluated 6,968 related literatures extracted from the database of Science Citation Index-Expanded from 1998 to 2019 to quantitatively analyze and visualize current research hotspots and emerging trends. The results revealed that water quality and optimal design of systems were research hotspots in the early periods, however in recent years, certain keywords that are more in accord with the characteristics of the times such as climate change, resilience, leak detection and energy recovery have appeared with high frequency, indicating that the research on water distribution systems might have turned from the study of single system to the overall consideration of the system and external environment. Therefore, the future studies may focus on (1) impact of climate change on water distribution systems (2) research on the resilience of urban water supply infrastructure (3) more accurate leak detection and more effective leakage control management (4) energy efficiency improvement and energy recovery in water distribution systems. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT