Intrinsic Distributed Fiber Optic Leak Detection

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• Gas Pipeline
• Liquid Pipeline
• Leak Detection
• Pipeline Condition

Main Objective

In addition to the protection of oil and gas pipelines, the proposed sensor network could be used to monitor leaks in water pipes for commercial or local civil infrastructure or used to detect leaks in chemical or manufacturing plants where potentially hazardous materials are transferred during normal processing operations.

Public Abstract

Monitoring and inspection of pipelines are essential for optimal operation of the energy infrastructure of the nation. However, methods that are currently used for pipeline inspection and diagnostics are typically either slow, do not provide high spatial resolution, suffer from excessive -alarms, or are not real-time. Development of a system for the real-time monitoring of pipelines to determine leaks should clearly be a high priority. In the proposed program, Prime Research will adapt newly developed fiber optic sensor technology to provide an inherently reliable method to acoustically detect leaks in pipelines with high spatial precision and low alarm rates in real time. The proposed leak detection system will rely on newly developed advances in intrinsic interferometric fiber optic sensors that will make it more sensitive, cost effective and reliable than existing sensing non-fiber optic methods or other potential fiber optic sensing technologies.

Final Report

Projno136 Final Rpt June 2004

Projno136_Final_Rpt_June_2004.pdf (677,072 bytes) [View] [Download/Save...]