Pipeline leak detection research at the University of Calgary is attempting to find ways to reduce energy lost in water treatment when incidents such as Calgary’s major feeder main break in June occur.
The Advanced Pipeline Research and Innovation Laboratory (APRIL) opened in 2019 at the Pipeline Engineering Centre in the Schulich School of Engineering. The centre’s director, Dr. Ron Hugo, is working on methods of being able to detect whether or not a pipeline is leaking.
Even a small leak — the type that goes undetected and does not result in water-use restrictions — still wastes resources, water and energy. Hugo estimates that between 20-25% of potable water from distribution systems leaks out.
“We see the opportunity of being able to assist in the development of better detection technology to prevent these leaks from occurring,” says Hugo, who is also a professor in the University of Calgary’s Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. “What we’re looking for are ways to be able to find mechanical signatures that would tell us that a failure is coming, or a failure has occurred.”
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Hugo explains that he will take a section of pipe and intentionally damage it. The research follows the unique approach of recreating a natural pipeline failure in order to capture the most authentic results.
“We put it into a flow facility that we have where we can change either the flow rate or the pressure and so, at a fixed flow rate, we’ll increase the pressure to the point where the pipe fails,” he says. “It’s a world-unique facility because it enables us to control a lot of different variables within a pipeline system.”
Hugo is working on a proposal with civil engineering professors to be submitted to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to enable future collaboration.
“That would be a nice blend, by taking people from civil engineering who study reinforced concrete structures and the work that we do with pipeline systems and then bring them together for collaborative research projects,” says Hugo.
