Author(s)

O. GENTILHOMME, G. AUDOUIN, D. HOUSSIN, B. RAGUIN & J-P LEININGER

Abstract

In 2015, TOTAL, AIR LIQUIDE, GRTgaz, ENGIE E&P International and INERIS were involved in a collaborative project called FOLD. The objective of this project was to experimentally assess the capability of an optical fibre based system to detect gaseous leaks occurring in a buried pipe. During this project, several parameters were tested in relation to the release properties (nature of gas, orifice diameter, pressure, direction etc.), to the installation of the optical cable (offset location from the pipe, protection around the cable) and to the scanning means (interrogation distance, interrogator technol- ogy). This article presents the experimental bench that was used during the testing campaign and some of the results obtained with the DTS (Distributed Temperature Sensing) equipment when this was interrogating the optical cable on short distances (less than 500 m). By analysing these results, it is already possible to give recommendations regarding the best positioning of the optical cable along the buried pipe to optimise the efficiency of the optical fibre based detection system.

Keywords

detection, fibre optic, leak, gas transportation pipeline