Vibro-Acoustic Leak Detection in Energy Pipelines

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With the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 and the COP25 agreement in 2019, Canada has agreed to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net-zero by 2050. Through what is commonly referred to as Energy Transition, Canada's energy industry, including its pipeline infrastructure, will transform. Energy transition will see changes in the energy sources used to power modern society. Chemical energy in the form of hydrogen is a strong candidate for hard-to-decarbonize sectors that include aviation; long-distance truck, train and ship transport; concrete and steel production; and the production of fertilizers. Attaining net-zero energy systems by 2050 will also require aggressive Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage approaches. Pipelines will play a central role in this transition, transporting hydrogen and ammonia fuels, biofuels, synthetic hydrocarbons, and carbon dioxide. This repurposing of pipelines will require advances in leak detection technologies for the protection of society and environment. Existing leak detection technologies fall into one of three main categories: those that are hardware based; those that are software based; and those that are inspection based. Hardware-based systems do, as the name implies, require extra instruments or sensors to be added to the pipeline or surrounding area to determine if there is a leak in the pipeline system. Software-based systems use existing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data including pressure, temperature, and mass flow rate with computational methods to determine if a leak is present. Finally, inspection-based systems physically examine the pipeline periodically to check for evidence of a leak. In this research, hardware-based sensing is investigated using wall-mounted accelerometers for use as a field-deployable leak detection technology. The approach is best suited for application near high-consequence areas (high-population areas, environmentally sensitive areas, etc.). The research will investigate the influence of leak morphology on leak signatures under operational Reynolds number conditions for early-stage leak detection and identification. The research will contribute to the understanding of both the hydrodynamics and the vibro-acoustics of leaks from pipe flow. The highly qualified personnel (HQP) trained through this research program will be equipped with the latest knowledge in non-invasive optical diagnostics, experimental fluid mechanics, vibro-acoustics, and signal analysis. HQP will also learn how to augment data analysis using artificial intelligence and machine learning. Trained HQP could find career opportunities in academia, government laboratories, regulatory organizations, or industry. Industrial positions would include pipeline transmission companies or service companies active in both hydrocarbon production or in the growing area of hydrogen energy transmission and carbon capture, storage and utilization.