Detection and location of a leak in a gas‐transport pipeline by a new acoustic method

Abstract A new method is described for detecting and locating a leak in a gas transport pipeline lying between two pump stations by an indirect acoustic method. The basic concept is to treat the pipeline as an acoustic tube (similar to a wind instrument), and to estimate the impulse response of the acoustic wave in the pipeline solely from the acoustic signal detected at two terminal sites in the pipeline. The test signal introduced at the input site is only acoustic noise; pipeline operation need not be interrupted. If a leak occurs in the pipeline, the impulse response of the acoustic wave in the pipeline has a sharp pulse or a step at a certain time that can be directly related to the site of the leak. Using the mathematical model of the pipeline acoustics, i.e., the wave equation, a theoretical basis is developed to explain how and why the leak can be detected and located. Experiments carried out in the laboratory under conditions comparable to realistic field conditions demonstrate the validity of the proposed detection method.