Detecting Thinner-Walled Pipe Sections Using a Spark Transient Pressure Wave Generator
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 144, Issue 2
Abstract
Research undertaken in the last two decades has demonstrated that hydraulic transient pressure waves, the phenomena behind water hammer, can be used as a tool for noninvasive and nondestructive condition assessment of long water transmission pipelines (in particular, detecting changes in the pipe wall properties). However, the spatial resolution of current transient-based technology is relatively low because the useful bandwidth of conventional valve-generated incident pressure waves is less than 100 Hz. This research develops a new transient pressure wave generator using controlled electrical sparks to provide high-frequency waves and improve the incident signal bandwidth. An electrical spark surrounded by water causes the development of a localized vapor cavity, the collapse of which induces an extremely sharp pressure pulse into the surrounding body of fluid. Experimental studies on a copper pipeline are conducted to investigate the usefulness of the pulse signals generated by the new spark generator for detecting thinner-walled pipe sections. Techniques are developed to analyze the wideband spark-induced pressure responses. The results show that the generated sharp pressure pulses have a useful frequency bandwidth up to 2 kHz. The success and accurate diagnosis of a thinner-walled section confirms that the dramatic improvement in bandwidth significantly enhances the spatial resolution of hydraulic transient-based pipe condition assessment.
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Acknowledgments
The research presented in this paper was supported by the Australia Research Council through the Discovery Project Grant DP140100994. The authors thank Stanley Woithe and Brenton Howie for the technical support in the development of the spark wave generator, and thank Imelda Ampulembang, Han Zeng, and Zhan Wang for facilitating the collection of experimental data.
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 144 • Issue 2 • February 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 31, 2017
Accepted: Jul 31, 2017
Published online: Nov 27, 2017
Published in print: Feb 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Apr 27, 2018
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