Development of a virtual pipe test rig for testing acoustic correlators for leak detection in buried water pipes
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Data
2019-08-09
Autores
Iwanaga, Mauricio Kiotsune
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Editor
Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
Resumo
Vazamentos em tubulações de água enterradas são considerados um importante problema já que uma grande quantidade de água é desperdiçada entre a planta de tratamento e os consumidores. Para lidar com tal problema, companhias de saneamento utilizam dispostivos para localizar vazamentos nas tubulações. Dispositivos de escuta e correlacionadores de ruídos são os equipamentos mais utilizados em campo pelas companhias de sanemaneto ao redor do mundo. Correlacionadores de ruídos são dispositivos usados na localização de vazamentos em tubulações enterradas através da estimativa do tempo de atraso entre os sinais medidos pelos sensores posicionados em ambos os lados de um suposto vazamento. Uma vez que as companhias de saneamento devem decidir qual tipo de correlacionador é o mais compatível com a sua rede de tubulações, elas devem realizar alguns testes para ajudar em tal decisão e para treinar os funcionários que operam estes dispositivos, os quais devem ser expostos a diferentes condições, tais como tubos de diferentes materiais e geometrias, diferentes tipos de solo, vazamentos com diferentes intensidades, etc. Neste contexto, o principal objetivo desta pesquisa é contribuir com esta necessidade através da elaboração de um dispositivo de bancada capaz de reproduzir as vibrações de um tubo causadas por um vazamento. O dispositivo, chamado de simulador virtual de vazamentos, é composto por um computador, um amplificador de potência com dois canais e dois shakers. Ruídos de vazamento são gerados no computador através de um modelo de tubo enterrado com vazamento, implementado como um software no Matlab®. Tais ruídos são chamados de ruídos de vazamento sintetizados. Uma vez que os sistemas são compostos por amplificadores e shakers cuja dinâmica afeta as vibrações geradas por eles, a compensação de tal dinâmica é realizada. Isso é feito através dos compensadores, que são filtros implementados no computador, que compensam a dinâmica através da filtragem dos sinais de entrada antes de serem fornecidos aos sistemas. Os resultados satisfatórios de tal compensação foram verificados no computador, através da combinação da resposta dos sistemas, e por um teste em laboratório. Tais resultados motivaram outro teste em laboratório, no qual o ruído de vazamento foi filtrado pelos compensadores antes de serem fornecidos aos amplificadores e aos shakers, para simular o ruído de vazamento em tubulações enterradas.
Leakage in buried water pipes is an important problem since a large amount of water is wasted between the treatment plant and the consumers. To deal with such a problem, water companies have used some devices to localize leaks in the pipe network. Listening devices and leak noise correlators are the most popular equipment used in the field by the water companies around the world. Leak noise correlators are important devices used to localize leaks in buried pipes by calculating the time delay between the signals measured by the sensors positioned either side of a suspected leak. Since water companies have to decide which leak noise correlator is more suitable for each pipe network, they have to carry out some field tests to assist in this decision and to train the personnel that handles such a device, which ideally must be exposed to different conditions, such as pipes with different materials and geometries, different types of soil, different leak strengths, etc. The main objective of this research project is to contribute with the necessity of the water companies by designing an indoor bench-top device capable to reproduce the pipe vibrations generated by a leak in the field. The device, called virtual pipe test rig, comprises a computer and a dual-channel power amplifier supplying two shakers. In the computer, leak noise is synthesized by using a model of a buried leaking pipe implemented using the software Matlab®. Since the systems, composed by the power amplifiers and the shakers, have dynamics that affect the vibrations they generate, compensation of the system dynamics is necessary. This is carried out using compensators, which are filters that are realized in the computer, that compensate for the dynamics by filtering the input signals before supplying them to the amplifiers. The results provided by the compensation were verified in the computer, by combining the response of the systems and the response of the compensators, and by carrying out a laboratory experiment. Further experiments were carried out, in which the synthesized leak noise is filtered by the compensators before supplying the power amplifiers and the shakers, simulating a leak in a buried pipe.
Leakage in buried water pipes is an important problem since a large amount of water is wasted between the treatment plant and the consumers. To deal with such a problem, water companies have used some devices to localize leaks in the pipe network. Listening devices and leak noise correlators are the most popular equipment used in the field by the water companies around the world. Leak noise correlators are important devices used to localize leaks in buried pipes by calculating the time delay between the signals measured by the sensors positioned either side of a suspected leak. Since water companies have to decide which leak noise correlator is more suitable for each pipe network, they have to carry out some field tests to assist in this decision and to train the personnel that handles such a device, which ideally must be exposed to different conditions, such as pipes with different materials and geometries, different types of soil, different leak strengths, etc. The main objective of this research project is to contribute with the necessity of the water companies by designing an indoor bench-top device capable to reproduce the pipe vibrations generated by a leak in the field. The device, called virtual pipe test rig, comprises a computer and a dual-channel power amplifier supplying two shakers. In the computer, leak noise is synthesized by using a model of a buried leaking pipe implemented using the software Matlab®. Since the systems, composed by the power amplifiers and the shakers, have dynamics that affect the vibrations they generate, compensation of the system dynamics is necessary. This is carried out using compensators, which are filters that are realized in the computer, that compensate for the dynamics by filtering the input signals before supplying them to the amplifiers. The results provided by the compensation were verified in the computer, by combining the response of the systems and the response of the compensators, and by carrying out a laboratory experiment. Further experiments were carried out, in which the synthesized leak noise is filtered by the compensators before supplying the power amplifiers and the shakers, simulating a leak in a buried pipe.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
Tubulações de água enterradas, Correlação acústica, Simulação de ruído de vazamento, Compensador, Atuadores eletro-mecânicos, Estimativa de tempo de atraso, Buried water pipes, Acoustic correlation, Leak noise simulation, Compensator, Electro-dynamic exciters, Time delay estimate