This report focuses on the suitability of negative-wave systems to detect small leaks in liquid pipelines by performing full-scale field tests of commercially-available technologies on an operating pipeline to determine their threshold for detecting small liquid leaks. A number of criteria were provided by the project team to use as metrics for quantifying system performance of negative-wave leak detection systems from three different vendors, as installed on a heavy crude 41-km section of a 30” pipeline. A number of blind fluid withdrawals were conducted at an intermediate point in the pipeline to evaluate the ability of the negative-wave systems to detect and locate the leaks.
Key Results The results of the testing were inconclusive for several key indicators of the testing. While significant information was gathered by execution of this project, additional testing will be required to fully explore the utility of negative-wave leak detection systems on a pipeline that does not incorporate batches separated by pigs. A number of “lessons learned” are included in this report to aid the planning of such future tests. The Final Report is available on PRIME for PRCI Members and is pending approval for public release.