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Title: DETECTION OF UNAUTHORIZED CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT IN PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAYS

Abstract

Natural gas transmission companies mark the right-of-way areas where pipelines are buried with warning signs to prevent accidental third-party damage. Nevertheless, pipelines are sometimes damaged by third-party construction equipment. A single incident can be devastating, causing death and millions of dollars of property loss. This damage would be prevented if potentially hazardous construction equipment could be detected, identified, and an alert given before the pipeline was damaged. The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a system to solve this problem by using an optical fiber as a distributed sensor and interrogating the fiber with a custom optical time domain reflectometer. Key issues are the ability to detect encroachment and the ability to discriminate among potentially hazardous and benign encroachments. The work continues on improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the technique. We are now able to detect weights sitting on the Hergalite fiber of as low as 0.2 pound. A brighter diode laser increased our sensitivity by a factor of ten. Detection of load fluctuations with frequencies greater than 5 Hertz is also possible. The next step is beginning measurements at the field site.

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Gas Technology Institute (US)
Sponsoring Org.:
(US)
OSTI Identifier:
827544
DOE Contract Number:  
FC26-01NT41160
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 26 Jul 2004
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
03 NATURAL GAS; CONSTRUCTION; DEATH; DETECTION; DOLLARS; FIBERS; FLUCTUATIONS; LASERS; NATURAL GAS; OPTICAL FIBERS; PIPELINES; SENSITIVITY; SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO

Citation Formats

Huebler, James E. DETECTION OF UNAUTHORIZED CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT IN PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAYS. United States: N. p., 2004. Web. doi:10.2172/827544.
Huebler, James E. DETECTION OF UNAUTHORIZED CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT IN PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAYS. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/827544
Huebler, James E. 2004. "DETECTION OF UNAUTHORIZED CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT IN PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAYS". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/827544. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/827544.
@article{osti_827544,
title = {DETECTION OF UNAUTHORIZED CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT IN PIPELINE RIGHT-OF-WAYS},
author = {Huebler, James E},
abstractNote = {Natural gas transmission companies mark the right-of-way areas where pipelines are buried with warning signs to prevent accidental third-party damage. Nevertheless, pipelines are sometimes damaged by third-party construction equipment. A single incident can be devastating, causing death and millions of dollars of property loss. This damage would be prevented if potentially hazardous construction equipment could be detected, identified, and an alert given before the pipeline was damaged. The Gas Technology Institute (GTI) is developing a system to solve this problem by using an optical fiber as a distributed sensor and interrogating the fiber with a custom optical time domain reflectometer. Key issues are the ability to detect encroachment and the ability to discriminate among potentially hazardous and benign encroachments. The work continues on improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the technique. We are now able to detect weights sitting on the Hergalite fiber of as low as 0.2 pound. A brighter diode laser increased our sensitivity by a factor of ten. Detection of load fluctuations with frequencies greater than 5 Hertz is also possible. The next step is beginning measurements at the field site.},
doi = {10.2172/827544},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/827544}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2004},
month = {Mon Jul 26 00:00:00 EDT 2004}
}