%0 Journal Article %A Alaa Al Hawari and Mohammad Khader and Tarek Zayed and Osama Moselhi %D 2015 %J International Journal of Environmental and Ecological Engineering %B World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology %I Open Science Index 99, 2015 %T Non-Destructive Visual-Statistical Approach to Detect Leaks in Water Mains %U https://publications.waset.org/pdf/10000792 %V 99 %X In this paper, an effective non-destructive, noninvasive approach for leak detection was proposed. The process relies on analyzing thermal images collected by an IR viewer device that captures thermo-grams. In this study a statistical analysis of the collected thermal images of the ground surface along the expected leak location followed by a visual inspection of the thermo-grams was performed in order to locate the leak. In order to verify the applicability of the proposed approach the predicted leak location from the developed approach was compared with the real leak location. The results showed that the expected leak location was successfully identified with an accuracy of more than 95%. %P 230 - 234