Onshore pipelines may be subjected to third party damage (civil works), corrosion leaks, mechanical issues (valve or pumps failures), land movements or (in extreme cases) theft of the product. These threats may lead to leaks or even more dramatic explosions.
The impact on human life and the environment can be significant. The pipeline operator’s public image can be damaged with non-negligible economic or political consequences.
PipeLIDS has been developed to minimize the consequences of leaks from onshore pipelines. It uses acoustic technology for detection of noise generated by impacts or leaks. This noise propagates in both directions over long distances inside the pipe. Intrusive acoustic sensors are installed regularly on the pipeline (every ten kilometers) to detect this noise. Each sensor is connected to an intelligent beacon with GPS synchronization. By measuring the sound wave’s amplitude and phase time shift and analyzing the acoustic signature, PipeLIDS detects the origin and location of the event and raises an alarm.
This paper presents latest technical improvements implemented on the PipeLIDS as installed on the latest SPSE Fos-sur-Mer (France) diesel pipeline for permanent survey. Acoustic sensors have been redesigned for better reliability. Software was reviewed and updated to give more efficient data processing, detecting and locating any accidental events within few minutes while being able to eliminate false alarms. Finally, very good performances of the system is demonstrated as well as its simplicity in terms of installation.
By measuring the sound wave’s amplitude and phase time shift and analyzing the acoustic signature, PipeLIDS detects the origin and location of the event and raises an alarm.
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