Leakage Rate Model of Urban Water Supply Networks Using Principal Component Regression Analysis

To analyze the factors affecting the leakage rate of water distribution system, we built a macroscopic "leakage rate–leakage factors"(LRLF) model. In this model, we consider the pipe attributes(quality, diameter,age), maintenance cost, valve replacement cost, and annual average pressure. Based on variable selection and principal component analysis results, we extracted three main principle components—the pipe attribute principal component(PAPC), operation management principal component, and water pressure principal component. Of these, we found PAPC to have the most influence. Using principal component regression, we established an LRLF model with no detectable serial correlations. The adjusted R2 and RMSE values of the model were 0.717 and 2.067, respectively.This model represents a potentially useful tool for controlling leakage rate from the macroscopic viewpoint.