<p> Detecting leaks is always a priority in the oil and gas industry and plays a major concern to human safety. The time required to fix any leak has a direct relationship in determining the damages caused to the environment, industry, and most importantly, the number of lives lost caused by catastrophic pipe failures. Detecting leak size and location in pipelines with higher accuracy presents major challenges to operators. This research work presents an innovative solution to locate a leak location inside a pipeline with higher precision. The solution is based on generating a 3D model that establishes a relationship between leak noise and its associated location and size. In order to generate the 3D model, an experiment study was first conducted where a flow loop having a leak, integrated with an acoustic detection system, was built to collect data about the effect of leak size, flowrate, pipeline material, and length on the noise generated. Later, a numerical study used the experimental results to initiate a simulation that aimed at finding how the leak noise propagates from the leak location. Finally, the experimental and numerical results were combined into a 3D model equation that solves for the leak location based on the leak noise and size.</p><p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10242003 |
| Date | 13 September 2017 |
| Creators | Chalgham, Wadie R. |
| Publisher | University of Louisiana at Lafayette |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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