Abstract

Many gas distribution company operation and maintenance activities require precise knowledge of the location of buried plastic piping. Plastic pipe cannot be located if the tracer wire is gone or was never installed. Under sponsorship of the Southern California Gas Company, IGT successfully demonstrated an acoustic plastic pipe location technique and is developing the technique into a practical field instrument an acoustic signal is injected directly into the gas at a service. The acoustic signal travels in the gas in the pipes, not in the pipe wall. As the acoustic wave travels along the pipe, some of the sound radiates from the pipe through the soil to the surface of the ground. An array of sensors on the surface of the ground perpendicular to the pipe detects the acoustic signal, thereby locating the Pipe. Two different acoustic measurements are used. The first measurement locates the pipe to within {plus_minus} 3-ft. Then the second technique determines the location of the pipe to within {plus_minus} 6-in. Document type: Report