A technique to pinpoint a leak in a buried water pipe using a pair of roving sensors measuring ground surface vibration

Abstract

The risk of water shortage has increased in many regions of the world. Since leaks represent a large amount of water wastage, water supply sectors depend heavily on leak localization technologies. One current technique uses a single roving sensor on the ground to measure the noise from a leak, and the amplitude of the noise indicates the location of the leak. In this paper a two-sensor technique is proposed as an improvement. It involves the use of two roving sensors to measure ground surface vibration caused by a leaking buried pipe, in a two-step process. In the procedure, in which it is assumed that the direction of the pipe run is known, the pipe is first located and then the leak is pinpointed. This is achieved by using the measured phase between the roving sensors to first determine the direction of the noise radiating from the pipe and then to determine the direction of the noise propagating along the pipe from the leak. It appears to be robust to the interference of background noise, and is straightforward to implement. Experimental work is carried out using two experimental test rigs, one in the UK and one in Brazil. The efficacy of the two-sensor approach is demonstrated, and it is shown to be effective several meters from the leak position in the UK test rig.

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ORCID for O. Scussel: orcid.org/0000-0002-9924-9580

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