Modelling of Failure Rate of Water-pipe Networks

The paper describes the reliability of selected water-pipe networks in Polish medium-sized cities X and Z. The main goal of this research was to compare the results of failure rate modelling with the experimental data. On average, in the analyzed time the main conduits and the distribution and service pipes in city X were characterized by failure rates (fail. / (km·a)) of 0.27, 0.40 and 0.59 while in city Z the failure rates amounted to 0.30, 0.32 and 0.78. The model described in the literature has been slightly modified (as a result, model M3 has been created) by the author to achieve better agreement with the experimental data. In the future, model M3 will be extended to ensure a larger prediction domain, which will make it more suitable for planning renovation schedules.