Real Time Monitoring of Contact to Pipelines

Overview

Main Objective

A study of the reportable incidents in the DOT databases found that approximately one-third of all incidents are caused by mechanical damage, and about one-third of those incidents were the result of a delayed failure. A separate study identified that contact with the pipe generates low frequency acoustic waves in the gas stream that can travel for miles. This signal can be detected by attaching low-frequency accelerometers or geophones to the outside of the pipe.

Public Abstract

GRI, through a contract with Dr. John Kiefner, studied the reportable incidents in the DOT databases. GRI found that approximately one-third of all incidents are caused by mechanical damage, and about one-third of those incidents were the result of a delayed failure. Although only a fraction of these incidents were preventable through monitoring, Dr. Kiefner found a disproportionate cost associated with delayed failures due to incidents with large consequences such as the Edison, NJ incident.

For the past five years, GRI studied detection of backhoe hits and other contact with pipelines. GTI learned that the contact with the pipe generates low frequency acoustic waves in the gas stream that can travel for miles. This signal can be detected by attaching low-frequency accelerometers or geophones to the outside of the pipe. This study builds and that knowledge by field testing and demonstrating such technology on two separate operating pipelines.