This paper proposes the use of fluid transients as a noninvasive technique for locating blockages in transmission pipelines. By extracting the behavior of the system in the form of a frequency response diagram, discrete blockages within the pipeline were shown to induce an oscillatory pattern on the peaks of this response diagram. This pattern can be related to the location and size of the blockage. A simple analytical expression that can be used to detect, locate, and size discrete blockages is presented, and is shown able to cater for multiple blockages existing simultaneously within the system. The structure of the expression suggests that the proposed technique can be extended to situations where system parameters may not be known to a high accuracy and also to more complex network scenarios, although future studies may be required to verify these possibilities.Keywords: Frequency response; Linear systems; Transients; Water pipelines; Resonance; Numerical analysis.
IntroductionThe increasing industrial reliance on pipeline systems for the transport of materials has led to the recent emphasis on technologies for the fast detection and location of faults within such systems. Amongst the types of problems that can occur in a pipeline system, the formation of blockages within the pipe poses a most elusive problem for existing fault detection technologies. Unlike leaks within piping systems, a blockage does not generate clear external indicators for its location such as the release and accumulation of fluids around the pipe. Often intrusive procedures, such as the insertion of a closedcircuit camera or a robotic pig, are required to determine the location of blockages. The creation of nonintrusive techniques for fault detection that gives a clear picture of the internal conditions of the pipeline is desirable, and the use of fluid transients for this purpose is a promising development.