In this study, the leak signal was measured by using an accelerometer to analyze the basic data and methodology for the development of the leak point estimation method in the water supply pipe. The measured results were analyzed by frequency analysis and cross-correlation analysis for leakage signals, and the error range was compared and analyzed with the actual leak point distance. As a result, it was confirmed that the vibration intensity due to leakage from the water leakage point was attenuated according to the distance. In the case of the ductile iron casting used in the experiment, the intensity of the signal at the 945 Hz, 1,500 Hz, 2,300 Hz band was increased with the change of the pressure in the pipe at 4mm of leakage hole. Also, it was confirmed that as the water pressure increases, the intensity of the leak signal increases but the similarity of the signal decreases. The results of this study confirm that the accelerometer sensor can be used efficiently for leak detection and it can be used as a basic data for the analysis for the development of leak point estimation method in the future.

A real scale leakage test facility was developed to study the leak signal characteristics of water supply pipelines, and then leak tests were carried out. The facility was designed to overcome the limited experimental circumstances of domestic water supply pipeline experimental facilities. The length of the pipeline, which was installed as a straight line, is 280m. Six pipes were installed on a 70m interval with different pipe material and diameters that are DCIP(D200, D150, D100, D80), PE(D75) and PVC(D75).The intensity of the leakage is adjusted by changing the size of the leak hole and the opening rate of ball valve. Various pressure conditions were simulated using a pressure reducing valve.To minimize external noise sources which, deteriorate the quality of measured leak signal, the facility was built at a quiet area, where traffic and water consumption by customers is relatively rare. In addition, the usage of electric equipment was minimized to block out noise and the facility was operated using manual mode. From the experimental results of measured leakage signal at the facility, it was found that the signal intensity weakened and the signal of high frequency band attenuated as the distance from the water leakage point increased.