Comparison of ANN model’s prediction performance according to the level of data uncertainty in water distribution network

As the role of water distribution networks (WDNs) becomes more important, identifying abnormal events (e.g., pipe burst) rapidly and accurately is required. Since existing approaches such as field equipment-based detection methods have several limitations, model-based methods (e.g., machine learning based detection model) that identify abnormal events using hydraulic simulation models have been developed. However, no previous work has examined the impact of data uncertainties on the results. Thus, this study compares the effects of measurement error-induced pressure data uncertainty in WDNs. An artificial neural network (ANN) is used to predict nodal pressures and measurement errors are generated by using cumulative density function inverse sampling method that follows Gaussian distribution. Total of nine conditions (3 input datasets × 3 output datasets) are considered in the ANN model to investigate the impact of measurement error size on the prediction results. The results have shown that higher data uncertainty decreased ANN model’s prediction accuracy. Also, the measurement error of output data had more impact on the model performance than input data that for a same measurement error size on the input and output data, the prediction accuracy was 72.25% and 38.61%, respectively. Thus, to increase ANN models prediction performance, reducing the magnitude of measurement errors of the output pressure node is considered to be more important than input node.