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On our power plant we take sea water through a 6 km underground line. This line has faced a lot of leaks from vents and flanges. We are thinking of a way to detect leaks using some intrumentation. One way could be to use flow sensors on the intkae line, one on the pwoer plant and one near the sea. The differential flow could give us a signal if there is a leak somewhere.

Can you suggest on this issue? The pipe is GRP DN 800. What type of flow sensor could be used in order to avoid cutting? E.g. ultrasonic ..

Interesting project, Stergios.

Insertion-type flow sensors do not require cutting the line (although they do require tapping into the line). GF+Signet is an example. I have personally never had a high opinion of this technology, because of accuracy issues.

The other options are turbo meters (eg Neptune, Sensus, Badger, etc...) and Magmeters (eg. Badger, etc...) But these require cutting the pipeline and inserting the (flanged) meters. These technologies are much more accurate. If you go this route, I'd check the seawater compatibility, as my experience with them is limited to potable water.

It is common practice on long mining tailings lines to have a mag-meter at each end for that reason.

It takes a pretty major leak to show up.
Its also surprising what a delay you get between the two meters e.g an increase in flow at the start takes several seconds to show up a mile away.

Roy

Sergio, do you mean that the underground portion is leaking, that is there is an ingress of soil contamination into the seawater?

If the answer to the above is yes, then the solution is simple?

Regards, Phil Corso (cepsicon@aol.com)

I think by using pressure measurement (DP) we can achieve the solution.

Regards,
BCG Vaikom