State estimation and leak detection and location in pipeline

A simplified method of designing a nonlinear state observer for fluid transport pipelines is presented. The observer keeps the nonlinearity of the original system unchanged, but the nonlinearity is discarded in designing the observer by the usual pole-placement method. This method is extremely simple, and is applicable to a wide range of nonlinear damping systems. Secondly, a leak detection and location method based on Kullback information is presented. This method is very sensitive to leakage, and does not require any flow rate measurement, which is often unavailable in practice. Test results on an experimental water pipeline are given