United States Department of Transportation
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Project Report: Active Pipeline Encroachment Detector (Phase I)
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2008-06-10
[PDF-1.47 MB]
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Alternative Title:Application of Non-Destructive Evaluation Techniques in Pipeline Inspection
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TRIS Online Accession Number:01640879
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Edition:Project Report
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Abstract:Of the many pipeline accident causes that occur to oil and gas pipelines, approximately 40% of are caused by third-party excavating activities into the buried pipeline right of way (ROW). According to DOT statistics, excavation damage is the second leading cause of accidents for hazardous liquid pipelines, after corrosion. In particular, the potential for mechanical damage to be inflicted to pipelines located in or near urban expansion areas has become a major concern for the pipeline owner/operators and government regulators charged with the safety of the community (1,2). Existing encroachment detecting systems such as the ThreatScan acoustic system, aerial surveillance using automated drones, video cameras and infrared detectors either are too expensive or cannot work continuously on battery for more than a few days/weeks. The long-term goal of the project is to develop a low-cost, reliable, long-life, wireless sensor system to identify and report pipeline encroachment activities in a localized area. Our short term objective of this project is to study and prove the feasibility of such system, and identify the technical and economic hurdles/compromises to achieve the aforementioned long-term goal. This document describes our preliminary work in the first phase of the project. Specifically, we will focus on the device, software, and test developed to detect and differentiate typical encroachment activities (such as digging by backhoe) from common activities on a construction sites (such as those from trucks and jack hammers). It will show that the wireless sensor network approach should be viable for detecting right-of-way (ROW) intrusion by digging equipment, though significant amount of work is needed to develop a fully functional prototype.
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