Experimental investigation on detection and location of leakage in buried water-filled pipelines under different types of sensor arrays and soils

Abstract

The research of pipeline leakage detection based on acoustic principle has been widely used. However, little work has been done to detect and locate leakage signals using different types of sensor array. In this paper, the variation law of leakage signal attenuation intensity and leakage source location under different sensor arrays and different soil types are studied experimentally. The effectiveness of leak source detecting based on ---, L, and H type arrays in moving process is emphatically studied. The results show that the detection width of --- type array is the widest and the search range can be further increased by moving in the vertical direction; L type array can find leakage sources in a local area more quickly; H type array can detect the change of the leak signal more easily in the direction perpendicular to two parallel edges. Under different soil conditions, the signal attenuation intensity detected by the same array type is different. Compared with sandy soil, clay has greater attenuation intensity for leakage signal. Therefore, when using sensor arrays for detection and analysis, it is necessary to consider the influence of different soil types, cover heights and other factors. The experimental results show that it is feasible to use sensor arrays to detect and locate leak signals under different soil conditions. In the future, the effective range and location accuracy of leak source detecting using different sensor arrays will be further studied.