On the selection of acoustic/vibration sensors for leak detection in plastic water pipes

✍ Scribed by Y. Gao; M.J. Brennan; P.F. Joseph; J.M. Muggleton; O. Hunaidi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 326 KB
• Volume: 283
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-460X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsv.2004.05.004

✦ Synopsis

Leaks from buried water distribution pipes are commonly located by applying the correlation technique to two measured acoustic/vibration signals on either side of a leak. The effectiveness of the correlation technique for locating leaks in plastic pipes depends on the type of sensors used and their sensitivities.

Based on an analytical model of the cross-correlation of pressure responses established in an earlier study, this paper investigates the behaviour of the cross-correlation coefficient for leak signals measured using pressure, velocity and acceleration sensors. Theoretical predictions show that a measure of pressure responses using hydrophones is effective for measurements where there is a small signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), but a sharper peak correlation coefficient can be achieved if accelerometers are used. The theoretical work is validated to some extent with test data from actual water pipes on a test site in Canada.