Deep Neural Network Assisted Distributed Strain and Temperature Fiber Sensor System for Natural Gas Pipeline Monitoring

Journal Article · 03 March 2025 · IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/tim.2025.3547114 · OSTI ID:2555834

Lalam, Nageswara  ^[1]; Bhatta, Hari  ^[1]; Reddy Bukka, Sandeep  ^[1]; Zhang, Pengdi  ^[2]; Diemler, Nathan  ^[1]; Shumski, Alexander  ^[1]; Ohodnicki, Paul R.  ^[2]; Buric, Michael P.  ^[3]; Wright, Ruishu F.  ^[1]

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1. National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
2. Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
3. National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Morgantown, WV (United States)

Natural gas pipeline integrity monitoring is crucial to detect potential leaks, find structural issues, and prevent environmental damage. This article presents a system of natural gas pipeline monitoring that uses a specialized double Brillouin peak sensing fiber along with the Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDAs) technique. The calibrated sensing fiber coefficients for strain and temperature are 41.8 kHz/ με and 0.9 MHz/°C for peak 1; and 47.2 kHz/ με , and 1.11 MHz/°C for peak 2, respectively. Initially, lab tests were performed by installing a short section of double Brillouin peak fiber (DBPF) on a 1-in steel pipe under pressure up to 1000 per square inch (psi) at elevated temperatures. Simultaneous distributed measurements of temperature and pressure-induced hoop strain were successfully measured. Considering the long processing speed to extract Brillouin frequency shift (BFS), we employ a novel probabilistic deep neural network (PDNN) framework for rapid BFS prediction. Additionally, using the Finite Element Method, the effects of the pipeline pressure on hoop strain were modeled and compared to the experimental hoop strain under the same set of pipeline conditions. Finally, an actual 4-in outer diameter steel natural gas pipeline was used for pilot-scale tests, where hoop strain was measured at various pressure levels. Leaks were simulated to demonstrate accurate pipeline integrity monitoring. At an internal pipe pressure of 1000 psi, hoop strain of approximately 300 με was observed, and the sensitivity was calculated as 0.28 με /psi. The results of this pilot-scale study demonstrated that the system is capable of performing distributed monitoring sufficient to detect pipeline pressure and the presence of leaks to ensure the safe operation of gas pipelines in the field.

• Research Organization: National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
• OSTI ID: 2555834
• Journal Information: IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Journal Name: IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement Vol. 74; ISSN 0018-9456
• Publisher: IEEECopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English