Leak Localization in Pipelines via Computational Pipeline Monitoring

Leaks in pipelines are unintentional releases of quantities of products from pipelines into the environment. Leaks contribute to the environmental pollution, promote corrosion and equipment failures, and produce instabilities in the pipeline operation and control. Pipeline leaks are commonly associated with third party damage, corrosion, equipment failures, and errors in pipeline design and operation. Being able to accurately detect the location of leaks is imperative. One objective of this paper is to develop a mathematical model that accounts for the behavior of pressure and flow-rate profiles in leaky pipeline systems. Such a mathematical model is needed to better understand the dynamic behavior of the pipeline and its characteristics and for the detection the leaks. The paper also involves computer simulation of pipeline conditions using the developed mathematical model and Kalman filtering technique. Leak localization is accomplished by scanning the pipeline from the inlet node to the outlet one to find the node at which the minimum residuals are obtained. Simulation results are reported to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed leak localization scheme. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4005859]