Reliability‐Based Distribution System Maintenance

Abstract

A strategy for prioritizing decisions for the maintenance of a water distribution system is developed. Using component and network reliability based on time‐varying connectivity concepts, the probabilities that water will be available at demand points in the system are calculated to determine a reliability surface. At any time, this surface is used to locate low reliability areas, which identify parts of the system that need maintenance priority. The specific components that must be repaired or replaced are determined using a component importance criterion that measures the overall effect of component maintenance on the system reliability. The procedure is applied to one hypothetical and two real‐life water distributions systems.