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Abstract
The article presents the application of the wavelet filter for detection of leaks in gas pipelines. The idea behind the
method is based on the detection of echoes reflected from turbulences induced by a leak. Such echoes are often very
hard to detect, mainly due to high noise levels. The common way of enhancing the analysis is to apply a filter. Different
types of filters can be used in practice. The selection of the appropriate filter type and its parameters is the major difficulty. The wavelet-based filter, selected for leakage detection, is optimally tuned using maximum values of kurtosis. The
proposed method is verified using simulated and experimental signals with high noise levels. The results demonstrate
that for the conditions used, the approach is superior over existing signal processing techniques. The method allows not
only for leakage detection but also for leakage location and estimation of its severity.
Keywords
pipeline networks, leak detection, continuous wavelet transform, wavelet filter, kurtosis
Introduction
Pipelines are a very important part of any engineering
infrastructure. Our life requires secure, efficient, and
environmentally friendly operation of various complex
pipeline systems. Media transported in pipelines can be
divided into two major categories, that is, liquid and
gas. Although physical properties of both media are different, problems associated with their transportation
are similar. It appears that leakage is one of the most
important problems associated with pipelines, and it is
inevitable in many systems. Early detection and localization of leakages are important not only because of
efficiency (i.e., loss of medium) but often also because
of safety to prevent various harm effects caused by leaking medium.
Various methods are available in practice for leak
detection. This includes approaches based on visual
inspection, acoustic emission, and dynamic pressure
measurements. One of the most promising approaches
is related to the analysis of reflections resulting from
signals introduced into the medium transported by the
pipeline. The method requires an understanding of
wave propagation in pipes, presented in Ref. 1. Leak
detection based on echoes was investigated in Refs. 2
and 3. The studies demonstrate very accurate results
406
can be used but extra care must be taken when the analyzed gas medium is explosive, as discussed in Refs. 5,
6, and 9.
While there were recently several articles proposing
novel leak detection methods in liquid pipelines, the
problem of leak detection in gas pipelines is not
widely investigated. The idea behind the method presented in this article is based on the detection of
echoes reflected from local change of fluid density
caused by the leak. Such echoes are often very hard
to detect, mainly due to high noise level. The gas flow
itself is the main source of the noise leading to poor
SNRs in response signals. Detection of leaks from
echoes is also a challenge due to the fact that echoes
are also produced by various geometrical pipeline features such as junctions or valves that are not related
to leakage. A variety of excitation techniques that
depend on medium, pressure, and required power
are used in practice to generate echoes. Special care
must be taken when media are explosive. The problem of excitation is discussed in detail in Refs. 5, 6,
and 9.
This article uses pressure wave signals to extract
echoes related to leakage in gas pipeline networks. The
objective is to use wavelet filtering on noisy signal
responses. In contrast to all previous approaches, the
optimal wavelet filter for leakage detection is developed. The filter is based on the continuous wavelet
transform. The major novelty is related to the process
of tuning filter parameters; this is based on maximum
values of kurtosis in the work presented. Wavelet-based
filtering used for leakage detection is briefly explained
in Wavelet-based filter for impulse detection in signals
with echoes section. The leakage detection algorithm is
implemented in Numerical implementation section.
The method is tested using simulated noisy signals, and
the results are compared with autocorrelation and cepstrum analysis. Experimental results and discussion
section presented experimental work undertaken in a
simple gas pipe with a leak. The results demonstrate
that the method allows for leak detection, localization,
and severity estimation.
1
Wg a, b = p
j aj
xtg
tb
dt,
a
2
2
t
t2
p
1
exp
:
1
2s2
p4 3s s2
Urbanek et al.
407
Figure 1. Example illustrating wavelet-based singularity detection: (a) sine wave with a barely visible peak at 0.6 s and (b) scalogram of the signal.
Effective filtering appears to be a solution to the problem. However, traditional filter parameters can be hard
to select in most applications because of various eigenfrequencies of pipeline structure. Impulse responses will
produce different frequency characteristics for different
measurement points due to unstable dynamic parameters of the flowing medium. That is why static filter
parameters are inadequate for detecting peaks hidden
in different frequency bands of analyzed responses.
Following previous work on correlation, the
approach based on the matched filter for echo signal
reconstruction has been proposed in Ref. 9. The concept of the matched filter is based on cross-correlation
of transmitted h (i.e., excitation) and received x (i.e.,
response) signals. The filtered y signal can be then calculated as
CA t = F 1 logjAf f gj,
y n =
hn k xk :
k =
408
Input signal
Mother wavelet
Numerical implementation
The algorithm presented in Wavelet-based filter for
impulse detection in signals with echoes section was
implemented in MATLAB and tested using simulated
signals. This section presents the simulated results.
The performance of the wavelet-based filtering
method was first tested using a simulated signal. The
signal analyzed consisted of three major features, that
is, one excitation impulse and two echoes. All three
impulses were sine waves with the exponentially
Urbanek et al.
409
m4
3,
s4
410
Compressor
Microphone
Open end
Pipe
28 m
Speaker
Waveguide lens
Hole
Urbanek et al.
411
Figure 14. Result of the matched filter applied to the experimental data from Figure 12.
412
Table 1. A summary of leakage detection results for various diameters and locations of the hole amplitudes of detected echoes
corresponding to the leakage (hole) and the open end of the pipe
(end)
Distance (m) Diameter of the hole (mm)
2
16
18
20
Hole
End
Hole
End
Hole
End
0.024
0.023
0.021
0.044
0.048
0.055
0.048
0.039
0.026
0.039
0.040
0.041
0.082
0.049
0.045
0.018
0.027
0.034
Conclusion
The Echo detection based method introduced in this
work appears to be reasonable approach for pipeline
network identification. However, recorded time signals
need to be correctly preprocessed in order to perform
further analysis. Wavelet-based filtering was used for
leakage detection. The maximum value of kurtosis was
used to select the scale parameter for the wavelet inverse
filter. The method was demonstrated using the simulated noisy signal and tested using the experimental
data from a simple pipeline with a hole. It was shown
that any turbulence source can be detected by the
described method.
The simulated experimental leakage was correctly
identified for all leakage positions and severities investigated. The relevant results for the cepstrum and
matched filter failed to identify the leak. The proposed
method can easily be automated for real engineering
applications. Moreover, there is no need for
measurement of excitation signal, which requires additional measurement channel and extra equipment.
Further work is required to confirm the above findings and to implement the method for leakage detection
in other media such as water or oil, where the sound
propagation speed is much higher. Filter performance
should also be tested for long (several kilometers)
ranges and more complex pipeline system
configurations.
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