Overview
| Project No. | 842 |
|---|---|
| Contract No. | 693JK31950007CAAP |
| Research Award Recipient | West Virginia University West Virginia University P. O. Box 6103 Morgantown, WV 26506-6103 Morgantown, WV 26506-6103 |
| AOR | Vincent Holohan Zhongquan Zhou |
| Researcher Contact Info | PI: Dr. Michael P. Strager, Professor of Spatial Analysis 1194 Evansdale Drive, Morgantown, WV 26506-6108 mstrager@wvu.edu, P: 304-293-6463, F: 304-293-3752 Co-PI: Dr. Shawn Grushecky, Assistant Professor, Energy Land Mgmt 1194 Evansdale Drive, Morgantown, WV 26506-6108 mgrushec@wvu.edu, P: 304-293-9417 F: 304-293-3752 Co-PI: Dr. Paul Kinder, Director, Natural Resource Analysis Center 1194 Evansdale Drive, Morgantown, WV 26506-6108 paul.kinder@mail.wvu.edu, P: 304-293-5386, F: 304-293-3752 |
| Project Status | Closed |
|---|---|
| Start Fiscal Year | 2019 (09/30/2019) |
| End Fiscal Year | 2023 (09/29/2023) |
| PHMSA $$ Budgeted | $206,920.00 |
Main Objective
WVU will determine the most cost-effective combination of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) sensors to monitor and evaluate pipeline conditions.
Public Abstract
Many of the pipelines being built across Appalachia are in difficult to inspect and monitor locations. Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) have been proven to have the potential to perform extensive monitoring and analysis of areas that may be inaccessible or dangerous for crews to inspect. In addition, many of the violations and suspensions of permits regarding pipeline construction concern slips, slides, or other erosion that violates many Section 404 water permits of the Clean Water Act. Besides the timely and high-resolution photos and videos that can be produced with UASs, another useful product is the construction of high resolution and detailed elevation datasets from structure from motion processing as well as LiDAR data. These datasets can be used for high temporal and spatial resolution hydrological runoff analysis. Providing this information for better pipeline inspection and management is possible with UASs technology. Our goal is to demonstrate the utility of this approach to industry in a cost-effective manner. Our proposed project consists of three phases. In phase 1, we will fly two different one-mile-long pipeline corridors during each season of the year to capture different phenology and wetness conditions. The sensors we will fly include natural color, LiDAR, thermal, and hyperspectral. In phase 2, we will process the imagery to produce structure from motion elevation data as well as LiDAR point clouds, and orthophotos of the multiband imagery. A thermal camera equipped on the UAS will be georeferenced to be used with the other data sets. A hyperspectral camera with a field spectrometer will help in mapping unique vegetation as well as soil conditions – specifically water retention to better predict slips. In phase 3, we will analyze the marginal contribution of each dataset to determine the best overall utility obtained from the data sources under budget and time constraints. Our results will provide a cost-effective approach for monitoring and management of pipeline corridors.
Relevant Files & Links
Final Report
Final Report
Other Files
De-brief presentation