Review of Detection and Monitoring Systems for Buried High Pressure Pipelines:Final Report

The Netherlands has approximately two million kilometers of underground cables and pipelines. One specific type of buried infrastructure is the distribution network of hazardous material such as gas, oil, and chemicals (‘transportleiding gevaarlijke stoffen’). This network comprises 22.000 kilometers of high-pressure transportation pipelines. Because they are located under the ground, these pipelines are subject to excavation damages. Incidents in them Belgian Gellingen (2004) and German Ludwigshafen (2014) show that consequences of pipeline damages are significant. They can cause fatalities to excavation workers and impact the environment too. In addition, only direct costs for recovery of damages are estimated by the pipeline owner association (VELIN) to range already from several hundreds of thousands to even a few millions of euros. This figure does not yet include the indirect costs. Serious incidents will eventually undermine the public’s acceptance for hazardous pipelines, so it goes without saying that pipeline excavation incidents should, therefore, be avoided. Nowadays, third parties seem to be causing most of the damage to underground pipelines (Capstick, 2007; CONCAWE, 2013; EGIG, 2015; J. M. Muggleton & Rustighi, 2013). Reasons for this, often mentioned by industry, are that utility location information (KLIC-melding) is not always available and, when available, it is not always accurate or too difficult to interpret by excavator operators. It is crucial to detect underground infrastructure in a timely fashion to avoid damages. For this purpose, initiatives are needed to help excavator operators to detect pipelines and monitor groundworks taking place close to pipelines. Such initiatives could focus on the identification and the development of technologies for pipeline strike avoidance. The first step in this direction was this study – which in turn is related to the Safety Deals that are prepared by the association of pipeline owners in the Netherlands (VELIN) and the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. VELIN and I&M requested the University of Twente to systematically review existing technologies for excavation damage avoidance. Such an overview is not available to the Dutch industry to date. The project team therefore identified and described existing systems for global monitoring and detection of utilities. These systems eventually help detect clashes between excavator equipment and high-pressure transportation pipelines

Brillouin distributed fiber sensors: an overview and applications

A review focused on real world applications of Brillouin distributed fiber sensors is presented in this paper. After a brief overview of the theoretical principles, some works to face the two main technical challenges (large dynamic range and higher spatial resolution) are commented. Then an overview of some real and on-field applications is done.This work has been supported by the Spanish TEC2010-20224-C02-02 Project

The role of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in industrial oil and gas condition monitoring

Wireless sensor networks have a vast amount of applications including environmental monitoring, military, ecology, agriculture, inventory control, robotics and health care. This paper focuses on the area of monitoring and protection of oil and gas operations using wireless sensor networks that are optimized to decrease installation, and maintenance cost, energy requirements, increase reliability and improve communication efficiency. In addition, simulation experiments using the proposed model are presented. Such models could provide new tools for research in predictive maintenance and condition-based monitoring of factory machinery in general and for “open architecture machining systems” in particular. Wireless sensing no longer needs to be relegated to locations where access is difficult or where cabling is not practical. Wireless condition monitoring systems can be cost effectively implemented in extensive applications that were historically handled by running routes with data collectors.The result would be a lower cost program with more frequent data collection, increased safety, and lower spare parts inventories. Facilities would be able to run leaner because they will have more confidence in their ability to avoid downtime

Detection of Buried Non-Metallic (Plastic and FRP Composite) Pipes Using GPR and IRT

This research investigated alternative strategies for making buried non-metallic pipes (CFRP, GFRP, and PVC) easily locatable using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). Pipe diameters up to 12 and buried with up to 4 ft. of soil cover were investigated. The findings of this study will help address the detection problem of non-metallic pipelines and speed the adoption of composite pipes by the petroleum and natural gas industry. The research also investigated the possibility of locating buried pipes transporting hot fluids using Infrared Thermography (IRT). Results from the study have shown that, using carbon fabric and aluminum tape overlay on non‑metallic pipes (GFRP or PVC for this study) before burying significantly increases the reflected GPR signal amplitude, thereby making it easier to locate such pipelines using GPR. The reflected GPR signal amplitude for pipe sections with carbon fabric or aluminum foil overlays was found to have increased by a factor of up to 4.52 times, and 2.02 times on average across all the pipe sections tested, from the baseline (unwrapped) pipe sections. The research also highlights the importance of using the correct antenna frequency for detecting buried pipes in wet soil conditions. Wet soils with high electrical conductivity and dielectric constants have higher radar signal attenuations that significantly affect the penetration depth and returned signal amplitudes from buried objects. A 200 MHz frequency antenna was found in this study to be ideal for locating the buried pipes in all soil moisture conditions. The 200 MHz antenna was able to detect buried pipes up to the maximum 4 ft. depth of soil cover that was studied experimentally. Numerical estimation using the same soil from the experiment shows that this antenna can penetrate up to a depth of at least 5.5 ft. in very wet clay soils with volumetric water content of 0.473. After evaluating the attenuation characteristics of different radar antennae, it was found that material/ohmic attenuation is constant across a range of antenna frequencies; the increase in GPR signal attenuation associated with higher antenna frequencies was found to be a result of scattering attenuation from subsurface inhomogeneity/clutter. Scattering attenuation is however usually ignored in literature, resulting in erroneous estimation of radar signal attenuation. Finally, laboratory study proved that, heat from a buried pipeline transporting hot fluid can propagate through the soil to the surface and be detected using IRT. Additionally, a 6 diameter steam pipe with a 6 minimum insulation and buried with 2.5 – 3 ft. of soil cover was easily detected in varying soil moisture conditions during different seasons throughout the year using IRT in the field environment. The successful application of IRT in detecting this pipe proves the potential for using this technique in locating buried pipes transporting hot fluids such as steam or petroleum products from production wells or refinery plants

Localized Pipeline Encroachment Detector System Using Sensor Network

Detection of encroachment on pipeline right-of-way is important for pipeline safety. An effective system can provide on-time warning while reducing the probability of false alarms. There are a number of industry and academic developments to tackle this problem. This thesis is the first to study the use of a wireless sensor network for pipeline right-of-way encroachment detection. In the proposed method, each sensor node in the network is responsible for detecting and transmitting vibration signals caused by encroachment activities to a base station (computer center). The base station monitors and analyzes the signals. If an encroachment activity is detected, the base station will send a warning signal. We describe such a platform with hardware configuration and software controls, and the results demonstrate that the platform is able to report our preliminary experiments in detecting digging activities by a tiller in the natural and automotive noise

Review: optical fiber sensors for civil engineering applications

Optical fiber sensor (OFS) technologies have developed rapidly over the last few decades, and various types of OFS have found practical applications in the field of civil engineering. In this paper, which is resulting from the work of the RILEM technical committee “Optical fiber sensors for civil engineering applications”, different kinds of sensing techniques, including change of light intensity, interferometry, fiber Bragg grating, adsorption measurement and distributed sensing, are briefly reviewed to introduce the basic sensing principles. Then, the applications of OFS in highway structures, building structures, geotechnical structures, pipelines as well as cables monitoring are described, with focus on sensor design, installation technique and sensor performance. It is believed that the State-of-the-Art review is helpful to engineers considering the use of OFS in their projects, and can facilitate the wider application of OFS technologies in construction industry

Laboratory testing of FBGs for pipeline monitoring

The monitoring of the effects of geohazards on pipelines can be addressed by optical fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). They are sensitive to strain and bending, and are installed on the external surface of pipelines at discrete locations. A joint approach of theoretical analysis and laboratory experiments is useful to check the reliability of the performance of this technology. We focus on the theoretical analysis of pipeline buckling and investigate the reliability of FBG monitoring both by examining the analytical model available and by performing a laboratory-scale experiment. The novelty lies in the analysis of models and methods originally developed for the detection of pipeline upheaval buckling caused by externally imposed forces in the context of service loads (temperature). Although thermal strain is very relevant in view of its potentially disruptive effects on both pipelines and the FBG response, it has not been yet fully investigated. We point out the merits of the approach, such as the functionality and simplicity of design, the accessibility and inexpensiveness of materials, the controllability and repeatability of processes, the drawbacks are also described, such as temperature effects, the problem of slipping of gages and the challenge of performing quasi-distributed strain measurements