Nageswara Lalam
Northumbria University, UK
Title: Real-time monitoring and localization of toxic pipeline leakages using distributed optical fibre sensor (DOFS) system
Biography
Biography: Nageswara Lalam
Abstract
Leakage of dangerous toxic acids from pipelines, flow lines, reactors, storages and oil wells is an severe impact on public. In fact, leakages of chemicals can be at the origin of toxic releases, which can have severe consequences on the installation as well as on the environment and nearby inhabitants. Industries are prompted to take all possible measures to reduce the occurrence of such catastrophic events by implementing additional technical safety barriers in order to prevent any potential danger. Pipeline leakages may have different origins, such as corrosion, fatigue, shocks, abnormal temperatures, extreme pressures, or excessive deformations caused by ground movement. In the case of liquefied or pressurized gases, leakages can be detected by the material deformation and rapid drop of temperature due to the evaporation of the released liquid and its evaporation gases or due to gas expansion. Brillouin scattering based distributed optical fibre sensor (DOFS) have unique features that have no match compared to other conventional sensing techniques. A single mode fibre cable is installed along the whole length of the pipeline then connected to a measurement system. DOFS system has an ability to detect the both temperature and micro-strain simultaneously with 1m spatial resolution and response time is less than 10s. As a result, we can prevent leakages from toxic acids pipelines before failure occurs.