Computational Acoustic Model for Non-intrusive Inspection of a Fluidic Channel

Abstract

The shortcomings of traditional pressure wave analysis for the detection of material deposits and structural compromises within a pipeline forms the motivation for this work. In many Oil and Gas pipelines, a pressure pulse generated using a fast-acting valve (hydrodynamic pressure) or an intrusive acoustic source (acoustic pressure) is often used for leak detection, deposition or blockage detection. A data logger records the incident pressure wave and its reflection. The mechanism of wave generation sometimes limits the usefulness of pressure wave analysis for near field pipeline diagnostics. In this regard, acoustic reflectometry performs well for near field analysis. However, the implicit requirement of an intrusive acoustic source limits mainstream adoption in pipelines. To mitigate this problem, a non-intrusive approach to acoustic wave analysis in a pipeline is introduced.