Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 41 (2016) 77e86

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Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jlp

Extraction of single non-dispersive mode in leakage acoustic

vibrations for improving leak detection in gas pipelines
Shuaiyong Li*, Nuowei Cheng, Ping Wang, Dong Yan, Peng Wang, Yuliang Li,
Xiaolong Zhao, Pengfei Wang
Key Laboratory of Industrial Internet of Things & Networked Control, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications,
Chongqing 400065, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The widely used cross-correlation technique for leak detection requires that the leakage acoustic vi-
Received 13 May 2015 brations propagate along the gas pipelines over a significant distance as a single non-dispersive mode at
Received in revised form a fixed velocity. In practice, the acoustic vibrations propagate along multiple paths including in-pipe gas
22 January 2016
and pipe wall, and the ones in different transmission paths possess different modal distributions and
Accepted 16 March 2016
Available online 18 March 2016
different dispersive behaviors, which bring a great challenge for leak detection in the gas pipelines. In
this work, a modal extraction scheme is proposed by determination of dominant transmission path and
vibration pick-up direction for improving leak detection in gas pipelines. Based on the vibration theory of
Keywords:
Gas-leakage-induced acoustic vibrations
cylindrical thin shell, the acoustical coupling between the in-pipe gas and the pipe wall is analyzed to
Acoustic coupling determine a dominant transmission path. Then, the dispersive characteristics and modal distributions of
Guided wave modes acoustic vibrations at different directions in the dominant transmission path are analyzed using guided
Modal separation wave theory. Finally, the experimental investigations convince theoretical analyses and demonstrate that
Dispersion suppression the axial vibrations in dominant transmission path are dominated by a single non-dispersive mode with
Leak detection high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in the frequency region 0e2.5 kHz. The findings provide useful leads for
improving leak detection in the gas pipelines.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction the assumption that the leakage-induced acoustic vibrations

Pipeline is one of the most convenient and efficient means of
transportation for gas, oil or water et al.. As a result of corrosion,
aging or third-party damage, leakages in the pipelines occur from
time to time, which induce many serious problems. The acoustic
emission (AE) technique as one of real-time and in-service
nondestructive examination methods has attracted increasing
attention for leak detection in the pipelines (Fuchs and Riehle,
1991; Wen et al., 2004; Yang et al., 2007, 2008, 2013; Wen et al.,
2007; Li et al., 2012, 2014; Mostafapour and Davoodi, 2015; Sun
et al., 2015). In the leak location surveys using AE technique, the
most useful method for locating a leakage is based on the cross-
correlation of the two measured acoustic signals, on either sides
of a leak (Fuchs and Riehle, 1991; Meng et al., 2012; Ozevin and
Harding, 2012). The effectiveness of the method is based upon
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: lishuaiyong@cqupt.edu.cn (S. Li).
propagate along the pipelines as a single non-dispersive mode with
high SNR. In practice, the assumption is not always valid because
the gas leakage-induced acoustic vibrations are multi-modally
blended signals transmitted along the multiple paths. Further-
more, distinct modes possess different attenuations and different
dispersions, which will blur the cross-correlation between the two
acoustic signals collected on either sides of a leakage so that a clear
cross-correlation peak is not so identifiable (Wilcox et al., 2001;
Long et al., 2003), consequently resulting in missing detection
and location of a gas leak. So, it is necessary to extract a single non-
dispersive mode in leakage acoustic vibrations for improving the
leak detection in gas pipelines.
Recently, most efforts have focused on signal processing algo-
rithm of mode separation (Niethammer et al., 2001; Huang et al.,
1998) and dispersion suppression of the acoustic waves trans-
mitted in a single path (Sicard et al., 2002; Wilcox, 2003). The mode
separation methods are effective assuming that multiple modes
occupy different frequency band and non-overlap each other in
time domain. At the same time, the dispersion suppression

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jlp.2016.03.016
0950-4230/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
78 S. Li et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 41 (2016) 77e86

methods are based on a known dispersive curve, supposed that an frequency is, the more severe the sound attenuation will be. In the
individual guided wave mode is separated and identified. In prac- low frequency range 0e2.5 kHz, four wave types are responsible for
tice, the gas leakage acoustic vibrations propagate along multiple most of the energy transfer (Fuller and Fahy, 1982; Pinnington and
paths including in-pipe gas and pipe wall, and the acoustic vibra- Briscoe, 1994): three axisymmetric modes for circumferential order
tions in different transmission paths possess different modal dis- n ¼ 0 and a flexural mode for circumferential order n ¼ 1, related to
tributions and different dispersive behaviors. So, the gas leakage- beam bending. Of the n ¼ 0 waves, the first wave, termed s1, is a
induced acoustic vibrations are multi-modally blended signals predominantly fluid-borne wave called gas dominated wave; the
transmitted in multiple paths and multiple modes intersect each second wave, termed s2, is predominantly a compressional wave in
other in time and frequency domains, which do not support these the shell named shell wave; the third wave, s0, is a torsional wave
assumptions. uncoupled with the in-pipe fluid and does not generate the radial
Extracting a single non-dispersive mode in gas leakage acoustic vibration of the pipe wall. So, the acoustical coupling between the
vibrations is a complex topic, which depends on the propagation in-pipe gas and the pipe wall is characterized by the s1 gas domi-
characteristics of the acoustic waves in the gas-filled pipe structure nated wave and the s2 shell wave.
and acoustical coupling between the in-pipe gas and the pipe wall. The coordinate system of a gas-filled pipeline is shown in Fig. 1.
A great deal of research has been performed on the propagation The s1 wave and s2 wave can be obtained by the solutions of vi-
characteristics of the acoustic waves in pipe structures. Gazis (1959) bration model of gas-filled pipelines surrounded by air as shown in
first provided the theoretical basis for the propagation of the Appendix A and Appendix B. According to Appendix A and
guided waves in the hollow cylinders, which describes a matrix- Appendix B, when the wavelength lrfs of the in-pipe gas dominant
formed frequency equation. Fitch (1963) experimentally verified wave in the radial direction is much larger than the radius of the
Gazis's theoretical predictions for axisymmetric and non- pipe, the argument krfs a is very small. Thus, krfs a ¼ 2pa=lrfs /0; then,
0
symmetric wave propagation. Later, Kumar (1971, 1972) studied J0 ðkrfs aÞ ¼ J1 ðkrfs aÞ ¼ krfs a=2, andJ0 ðkrfs aÞ ¼ 1. Substitution of the
the effect of the in-pipe fluid on guided waves propagation in fluid- Eq. (B5), (B10) and (B11) into the Eq. (B6) in combination with the
filled pipelines. Lafleur and Shields (1995) studied the propagation small argument approximations for the Bessel function leads to
of low frequency modes in a liquid-filled pipeline. Sinha, Plona,


Kostek et al. (1992a) have addressed the case of axisymmetric k2s 2Bf a 1  n2 k2f
wave propagation in cylinders with fluid loading on the inside and 1  k2L a2 þ n2 ¼ 
kL  k2s
2 Eh kf  k2s
2
outside of the cylinder. The case of a pipeline filled with viscous


liquid has recently been analyzed by Elvira-Segura (2000). The a2 1  n2 jrm cm km H0 krms a
early work that conducted by Thurston (1978) concentrated on þ ju 0

:
Eh krms H0 krms a
portions of the dispersive curves that could be calculated using only
(1)
real Bessel function. Later, the investigations by Safaai-Jazi et al.
(1986), Simmons et al. (1992), and Viens et al. (1994) have been In like wise, as the wavelength lrms
of external air dominant
able to obtain the entire frequency range of dispersive curves by wave in the radial direction is much larger than the radius of the
calculating the complex Bessel function. These previous researches pipe, the argument krms a is very small. According to the low-
have contributed to our understanding of cylindrical guided waves frequency approximations to the impedance of the longitudinal
propagation. In addition, the dispersive curves of guided waves wave in the external air, Eq. (1) becomes
traveling along the gas-filled pipelines can be obtained using the


guided wave theory in cylinders. k2s 2Bf a 1  n2 k2f
In this study, the acoustical coupling between the in-pipe gas 1 k2L a2 þn 2
2
¼ 
kL  k2s Eh k2f  k2s
and the pipe wall is analyzed to determine the dominant trans-


mission path based on thin shell theory. Then, the dispersive r a 3 u2 1  n 2 
 
characteristics and modal distributions of leak acoustic vibrations þ m jp=2 þ ln krms a ;
Eh
in different directions for the dominant transmission path are (2)
analyzed using the guided wave theory in cylinders. The experi-
mental investigations convince the theoretical analyses and where Bf ¼ rf u2 =ðkf Þ2 is the bulk modulus of the in-pipe gas and cm
demonstrate that the axial vibrations in dominant transmission is the wave speed in the external air.
path are dominated by a single non-dispersive mode with high SNR Considering the effect of the loss factor h of the pipe wall ma-
in the low frequency region 0e2.5 kHz. Based on these discoveries, terial, the Young's modulus E is a complex number. Then the
we propose a modal separation and dispersion suppression method wavenumber ks for s1 wave, obtained from Eq. (2) and by assuming
at information acquisition stage suitable for improving leak k2L =k21 /0 is
detection in the gas pipelines. By determination of dominant
transmission path and vibration pick-up direction on the outer
surface of the pipelines, an individual non-dispersive mode with
high SNR can be acquired at the front-end of information collection.

2. Acoustic coupling between in-pipe gas and pipe wall

2.1. Solutions of vibration model of gas-filled pipelines surrounded

by air

Though the gas leakage-induced acoustic signal occupies a wide

frequency band 0e400 kHz, the acoustic energy primarily con-
centrates in the low frequency range 0e2.5 kHz when the acoustic
waves propagate along the gas pipelines over a greater distance
(Mostafapour and Davoudi, 2013). Because the higher the
Fig. 1. The coordinate system of a gas-filled pipeline: r, q and z stand for radial,
circumferential and axial directions respectively; a and b are inner and outer radii of
the given pipeline respectively; h is the thickness of the pipe wall (h << a); ur,uq and uz
are radial, circumferential and axial displacements respectively.
 S. Li et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 41 (2016) 77e86 79

 1=2
2Ba
cp1 ¼ cf 1 þ ; (9)
k21 ¼ k2f 1 Eh  u2 rha2
. !
2Bf a  1=2
þ 
  :
n2 Eh
cp2 ¼ cL 1 þ ; (10)
ðE þ jhEÞh=a2  u2 rh  rm a ln krm1 a þ jrm u2 ap 1  n2 Eh þ 2Ba  rhu2 a2
(3)
where cf is the acoustic speed in a free gas and cL is the wave speed
In the same way, the second wavenumber k2 for s2 wave ob- in an infinite plate.
tained with the knowledge of k22 =k2f /0, is The general form of phase speed expressions Eqs. (9) and (10) is

!
n2 Eh a2
k22 ¼ k2L 1 þ .
  : (4)
1  n2 ðE þ jhEÞh=a2 þ 2B a  rhu2 þ r u2 a ln kr a þ jr u2 ap
f m m2 m

The material parameters of the steel pipe, the in-pipe gas and
the external air are listed in Table 1. It is shown that the density of
the external air is so small that the effect of external air on the
wavenumber can be ignored. Hence, the wavenumber expressions
Eqs. (3) and (4) for the s1 wave and s2 wave are derived without
considering the effect of the surrounding air. In addition, since the
loss factor of the pipe wall material is too small shown in Table 1,
the complex form of Young's modulus can be approximated as real
number. Hence, the wavenumber expressions Eqs. (3) and (4)can be
simplified as
 
2Ba
k21 ¼ k2f 1 þ ; (5)
Eh  u2 rha2

 
n2 Eh
k22 ¼ k2L 1 þ : (6)
1  n2 Eh þ 2Ba  rhu2 a2
The wavenumbers of the gas dominated wave and the shell
wave increase with the frequency of gas leakage-induced acoustic
waves as shown in Figs. 2,3. The variation of the wavenumbers with
the frequency is highly dependent on the density, thickness of the
pipe wall material and the radius of the pipeline shown in Eqs. (3)
and (4). Fig. 2. The wavenumber for the s1 wave as a function of its frequency.
The phase speed cps and group speed cgs are expressed by

cps ¼ u=k; (7)

cgs ¼ du=dk; (8)

where k and u are the wavenumber and angular frequency

respectively, and du/dk denotes the derivative of u with respect to
k.
Therefore, the phase speeds cps for the s1 wave and s2 wave can
be obtained by

Table 1
Material and geometric parameters of the pipeline, in-pipe gas and external air.

a (mm) h (mm) r (Kg/m3) E (GPa) B (MPa) n h

Pipe 12.7 3.5 7850 196 … 0.3 0.004
Gas … … 2.3381 … 0.28 … …
Air … … 1.1691 … 0.14 … …

Gas is the in-pipe gas.

Air is the external air surrounding the gas pipelines.
r denotes the density of pipe wall, in-pipe gas and external air. Fig. 3. The wavenumber for the s2 wave as a function of its frequency.
80 S. Li et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 41 (2016) 77e86

.
cps ¼ cfs ns ; (11)

where cfs is the wave speed in the media of infinite free space, such
as cf or cL.
Eqs. (7), (8) and (11) can be combined to give

 
u dns
cgs ¼ cps 1þ : (12)
ns du
Hence, the group speed of the s1 wave is expressed by

 
u dn1
cg1 ¼ cp1 1þ ; (13)
n1 du

where n1 ¼ ð1 þ 2Ba=Eh  rhu2 a2 Þ1=2 .

In the same way, the group speed of s2 wave can be obtained by
Fig. 5. The phase speed and group speed for s2 wave as a function of its frequency.

 
u dn2
cg2 ¼ cp2 1þ ; (14)
n2 du 2.2. The ratio of pipe wall displacements induced by s1 and s2
waves
where n2 ¼ ð1 þ n2 =1  n2 Eh=Eh þ 2Ba  rhu2 a2 Þ1=2 .
According to the Eqs. (9), (10), (13) and (14), the variation of the The relationship between the in-pipe acoustic pressure and
phase speeds and group speeds for s1 and s2 waves in the fre- radial wall displacement for s1 and s2 waves can be obtained by
quency range 0e15 kHz are shown in Figs. 4, 5. It is found in Figs.4, substitution of Eqs. (5) and (6) into Eq. (B10):
5 that the phase speeds and group speeds for the s1 and s2 waves
are gradually decreasing with the frequency. In addition, the group Pf 1 a2 1  n2
speeds for s1 and s2 waves are less than the corresponding phase W1 ¼ ; (15)
hE 1  k2L a2  n2
speeds and the greater the frequency, the greater the difference
between the group speeds and phase speeds as shown in Figs. 4, 5.
For the s1 wave, the phase speed has a little change Pf 2 a
W2 ¼  : (16)
(346.0551e346.055 m/s) in the frequency range of 0e15 kHz and 2B
the group speed has a similar change (346.0551e346.0548 m/s)
Substitution of Eqs. (5) and (6) into Eq. (B5) can give the axial
compared with the phase speed in the same frequency range. The
displacements,
difference between phase speed and group speed is very small and
the maximum difference is 0.0002 m/s in the interesting frequency
U1 ¼ jnW1 =k1 a; (17)
range 0e15 kHz as shown in Fig. 4. Therefore, the phase speed and
group speed for the s1 wave are almost equal to each other and can  .
be determined as 346.05 m/s in the frequency range 0e15 kHz U2 ¼ jW2 1 þ b  k2L a2 nkL a: (18)
shown in Fig. 4. But the difference for s2 wave is bigger and the
maximum value is about 5.3 m/s in the frequency range 0e15 kHz In the practical pipelines, the pipe wall motion excites the in-
as shown in Fig. 5. The phase speed of the s2 wave ranges from pipe gas and the acoustic pressure in the in-pipe gas drives the
4996.8 m/s to 4984.1 m/s and the group speed ranges from pipe wall causing acoustic coupling between the two waves: the s1
4996.8 m/s to 4958.1 m/s. gas dominated wave and the s2 shell wave. The energy ε1 of the s1
wave per unit length of pipe is
 . 
~ 2 pa2 r c2
ε1 zP (19)
1 f 1

2
~ is the space averaged mean square acoustic pressure
where P 1
along the pipe length.
The energy ε2 of the s2 wave per unit length is

2
~ u2 2pahr;
ε2 zU (20)
2
2
where U ~ is the space averaged mean square axial displacement.
2
By substitution of Eq. (15) into Eq. (19) and Eq. (18) into Eq. (20),
the ratio of the pipe wall displacements induced by the two waves
can be expressed by,

   12
W1 
  ¼ ð1 þ bÞb c2 : (21)
W  n2 c1
2

Fig. 4. The phase speed and group speed for s1 wave as a function of its frequency. Where b ¼ (2Bfa/Eh)(1  n2)c1 and c2 are the acoustic speeds of
 S. Li et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 41 (2016) 77e86
the gas dominated wave and the shell wave respectively (see Eqs.
(9), (10), (13) and (14), Figs. 4, 5). Eq. (21) shows the ratio of pipe
wall radial displacements induced by the gas dominated wave and
the shell wave respectively is closely related to the pipe wall ma-
terial, the in-pipe gas and the frequency distribution of the gas
leakage-induced acoustic waves. The ratio will be calculated for a
given gas pipeline to characterize the acoustical coupling between
the in-pipe gas and the pipe wall which can be used to determine
the dominant transmission path of the gas leakage-induced
acoustic waves. By substitution of the phase speeds of the s1 and
s2 waves and the material parameters of the pipe wall and the in-
pipe gas into Eq. (21), the ratio of the pipe wall displacements
induced by the s1 wave and s2 wave can be determined and the
result shows that the ratio increases linearly from 0.0388 to 0.0387
with the phase speed of s2 wave. So, the s2 wave is the dominant
component of the gas leakage-induced acoustic waves. In other
words, the acoustical coupling between the in-pipe gas and the
pipe wall is so weak that the dominant transmission path of the
gas-leakage-induced acoustic vibrations is the pipe wall. Hence, the
gas-filled pipelines can be approximated as a hollow cylinder and
this approximation will be verified in the following Section 3.
3. Dispersive behaviors and modal distributions of guided
waves in different directions
According to the acoustic coupling analysis, a gas-filled pipeline
can be approximated as a hollow cylinder. Hence, the given gas
pipeline can be modeled using guided wave theory of hollow cyl-
inder and the dispersive behaviors and displacement distributions
of the guided waves in the given gas pipeline can be analyzed using
the guided wave theory.
Hence, according to the material and geometric parameters of
the given gas-filled pipeline in Table 1, the phase speed dispersive
curves of the guided waves in the gas pipeline are obtained using
the guided wave theory of the hollow cylinders as shown in Fig. 6. It
is found in Fig. 6 that six guided wave modes are excited in the
frequency range 0e100 kHz. The six guided wave modes are clas-
sified as longitudinal modes L(0,1), L(0,2), torsional mode T(0,1) and
flexural modes F(1,1), F(1,2), F(1,3) as shown in Fig. 6. The flexural
modes are non-axisymmetric modes with circumferential order
n ¼ 1,2,3 …, and the longitudinal and torsional modes are
axisymmetric modes with circumferential order n ¼ 0. In the vi-
bration model of thin shell in Section 2, for circumferential order
Fig. 6. Phase speed dispersive curves of the guided waves in the frequency band
0e100 kHz for the given gas-filled pipeline using the guided wave theory of the hollow
cylinders.
81
n ¼ 0, there are three axisymmetric modes in the low-frequency
range. Of the three n ¼ 0 waves in low frequency, the first wave,
termed s1, is a predominantly gas-borne wave; the second wave,
termed s2, is predominantly a compressional wave in the shell; the
third wave, termed s0, is a torsional wave. Therefore, the s2 wave in
the vibration model is actually corresponding to the longitudinal
mode L(0,1) in field of guided waves in cylinders and the analytical
solution to s2 wave is obtained considering the effect of the in-pipe
gas. The phase speed dispersive curves for s2 and L(0,1) are
compared in frequency range of 0e15 kHz as shown in Fig. 7. It is
demonstrated in Fig. 7 that the phase speeds of the s2 wave and
L(0,1) guided wave have similar variation tendency in the frequency
range of 0e15 kHz and are approximately equal to each other in low
frequency less than 5 kHz. Therefore, the gas filled pipelines can be
analyzed without considering the effect of the in-pipe gas in the
low frequency and the approximation of hollow cylinders is
reasonable and effective shown in Fig. 7.
Fig. 8 shows the group speed curves of the six guided wave
modes excited in the frequency range 0e100 kHz and three modes
in the frequency range 0e2.5 kHz called fundamental modes with
the cutoff frequency 0 Hz. The fundamental modes are termed
torsional mode T(0,1), longitudinal mode L(0,1) and flexural mode
F(1,1) respectively. The torsional mode T(0,1) is a non-dispersive
guided wave with a velocity of 3099 m/s over the whole range of
frequencies and the longitudinal mode L(0,1) is also a non-
dispersive guided wave with a group speed of about 4938 m/s in
the low frequency region 0e2.5 kHz. But the flexural mode F(1,1) is
severely dispersive and its group speed ranges from 400 to 1800 m/
s in the frequency range 0e2.5 kHz.
The theoretical analysis demonstrates that the displacement
distributions of the guided waves are almost unchanging in the
frequency range 0e2.5 kHz. Hence, the displacement distributions
are explored under a frequency 500 Hz to characterize the guided
waves in the given low frequency range 0e2.5 kHz shown in
Fig. 9(aec). Fig. 9(a) shows that the flexural mode has significant
radial and circumferential displacements, while its axial displace-
ment is insignificant under the given frequency 500 Hz Fig. 9(b)
demonstrates that the torsional mode T(0,1) has only circumfer-
ential displacement. It is found in Fig. 9(c) that the longitudinal
mode L (0, 1) has a significant axial displacement and little radial
displacement. In other words, the radial vibration is dominated by
an individual dispersive flexural mode F(1,1); the axial vibration by
a single non-dispersive longitudinal mode L(0,1); the
Fig. 7. Comparison of the phase speed dispersive curves of s2 shell wave and longi-
tudinal modal guided wave L(0,1) in frequency range of 0e15 kHz for the given gas-
filled pipeline.
82 S. Li et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 41 (2016) 77e86

Fig. 8. Group speed dispersive curves of the guided waves in the frequency band
0e100 kHz and the subgraph describes the group speed dispersion of the guided
waves in the frequency band 0e2.5 kHz.

circumferential vibration by a non-dispersive torsional mode T(0,1)

and a dispersive flexural mode F(1,1). So, it is possible to extract a
single non-dispersive mode by picking up the axial vibrations.

4. Experiment

4.1. Experimental setup

The experimental setup consists of two sections: gas pipeline

network and acoustic detection system shown in Fig. 10. In the gas
pipeline network, an air tank is filled with compressed air by an air
compressor (Hongwuhuan product, China: HW5507) to provide the
gas source for the pipeline with length of 110 m. The material and
geometric parameters of the given pipeline are listed in Table 1. The
detection system consists of four MEMS accelerometers (AD
product, USA: ADXL203), signal conditioner, Data acquisition (DAQ)
card (NI product, USA: PCI-6251) and personal computer (PC)
equipped with LabVIEW. The frequency range of 0e2.5 kHz is
selected according to the working principle of the acceleration
transducers and thus the sampling frequency is determined as
5 kHz. When the deflation valve is opened, a simulated gas-
leakage-induced acoustic vibration transmits along the pipeline
and is picked up by the accelerometers mounted on the outer
Fig. 9. Displacement distributions of (a) the flexural mode F(1,1) (b) torsional mode T
surface of the pipeline. The acoustic signal is preprocessed by the
(0,1) (c) longitudinal mode L(0,1), under the frequency 500 Hz ur,uq and uz stand for
signal conditioner at the front-end, including the preamplification radial, circumferential and axial displacements respectively.
and anti-aliasing filtering. Then the conditioning signals are ac-
quired by the DAQ card and stored into the PC.

4.2. Dispersions and modal distributions of gas-leakage-induced
guided waves
In order to verify the theoretical predictions, two MEMS accel-
erometers are placed on the outer surface of the pipeline to pick up
the gas-leakage-induced acoustic vibrations in the radial, axial and
circumferential directions respectively. Correlating two sets of data
acquired in a direction is used to estimate the time delay between
the two collected signals. When the difference of distances be-
tween the signal collection positions and the leak point is known,
the acoustic speed of the leakage-induced guided waves picked up
in a direction can be obtained by
DL
v¼ ; (22)
t
where, v, DL and t stand for the acoustic speed, the distance dif-
ference and the time delay respectively. According to this method,
the acoustic speeds are determined to identify the modal type of
the guided waves acquired in different vibration directions.
Fig. 11 describes the cross-correlation between the two acoustic
signals picked up in various vibration directions under the distance
difference DL ¼ 12.822 m. The dispersions and modal type of the
gas-leakage-induced guided waves are exhibited by the time
duration and the time delay of the cross-correlation peak shown in
Fig. 11. It is illustrated in Fig. 11(a) that the acoustic speed of the
guided waves picked up in radial direction ranges from 602.3 m/s to
 S. Li et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 41 (2016) 77e86
Fig. 10. Experimental setup: 1- air compressor, 2- pressure regulating valve, 3- gas tank, 4- cut-off valve, 5- pressure gauge, 6- gas pipeline, 7- deflation valve, 8e11- MEMS ac-
celerometers, 12- signal conditioner, 13- BNC connector, 14- NI DAQ card- PCI6251, 15- PC.
Fig. 11. The cross-correlation time delay estimations of the two acoustic signals picked
up by the accelerometers in (a) radial (b) axial (c) circumferential directions respec-
tively, on either sides of a leak. The modal type is identified by comparing the
measured acoustic speed using the time delay estimations with the corresponding
group speed dispersive curves predicted theoretically in Fig. 8.
83
1642 m/s, which suggests a single dispersive flexural mode F(1,1)
can be extracted by picking up the radial vibrations. Fig. 11(b)
shows only one obvious cross-correlation peak which represents
the longitudinal mode L(0,1). Besides, the short time duration of the
cross-correlation peak in axial direction indicates non-dispersive
nature of the longitudinal mode L(0,1) in the frequency range
0e2.5 kHz Fig. 11(c) demonstrates there are two guided wave
modes extracted in circumferential vibration direction: flexural
mode F(1,1) and torsional mode T(0,1). The dispersion of the flex-
ural mode F(1,1) is still observed from the longer time duration of
the cross-correlation peak shown in Fig. 11(c). In summary, the axial
vibrations are dominated by a single non-dispersive longitudinal
mode L(0,1), while the radial vibrations are dominated by a
dispersive flexural mode F(1,1) and the circumferential vibrations
by two modes: the flexural mode F(1,1) and the torsional mode
T(0,1) with different dispersions in the frequency range 0e2.5 kHz,
which are well agreement with the theoretical predictions. So, an
individual non-dispersive guided wave can be acquired by picking
up the axial vibrations in the low frequency region 0e2.5 kHz.
4.3. Attenuation behaviors of gas-leakage-induced acoustic
vibrations in various directions
Then, four accelerometers are placed at different positions on
the outer surface of the gas pipelines to acquire the gas-leakage-
induced acoustic vibrations of various directions shown in Fig. 10.
The power of the acoustic signals acquired at the four positions is
Fig. 12. The fitting curves of the power of the gas-leakage-induced acoustic vibrations
picked up in various directions representing the relationship between the power of the
guided waves and the propagating distances. The distances between the signal
collection positions and the leak point are 4.26 m, 11.65 m, 23.31 m and 72.14 m
respectively.
84 S. Li et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 41 (2016) 77e86

calculated respectively and thus there are four power data points
fitted as a curve in each direction. Hence, three fitting curves can be
obtained in the three directions shown in Fig. 12.
Fig. 12 shows that the power of gas-leakage-induced acoustic
vibrations of various directions attenuates as an exponential
function of the propagating distance. The general form of the fitting
functions in various directions can be expressed by
A ¼ A0 expð  azÞ þ B0 expð  bzÞ:
In this expression, A0 and B0 are the un-attenuated amplitudes
of the propagating waves at the initial position. The amplitude A is
the attenuated amplitude after the wave has traveled a distance z
from the initial position. The quantity a and b are the attenuation
coefficients of the wave traveling in the z-direction. The term exp is
the exponential (or Napier's constant) which is equal to approxi-
mately 2.71828.
When the spreading distance is less than 4 m, the radial vibra-
tion power is the largest and the axial vibration power is the
smallest shown in Fig. 12. This fact suggests the gas leakage-
induced turbulence excites a stronger asymmetrical flexural
mode than the symmetrical longitudinal mode. Because the pres-
sure fluctuations of turbulent boundary layer act as a surface dis-
tribution of random vertical-acting sources on only one side of the
gas pipelines. Hence, the asymmetrical distribution of the pressure
fluctuations on the surface of the gas pipelines brings about a
stronger asymmetric flexural mode than not the symmetric longi-
tudinal mode.
However, when the spreading distance is above 25 m, the axial
vibration maintains lager power than other directional vibrations
shown in Fig. 12. This fact manifests that the attenuation rate of
axial vibration is the smallest compared to other two directional
vibrations, which can be represented by absolute values of the first
derivatives of the fitting curves in various vibration directions
shown in Fig. 13. As the spreading distance is above 60 m, the
circumferential and radial vibrations are dominated by the back-
ground noise and their attenuation rates gradually approach to zero
shown in Fig. 13. In brief, the axial vibrations exhibit the smallest
attenuation and picking up the axial vibrations is promising to
improve the SNR of leakage-induced acoustic vibrations at infor-
mation acquisition stage.
pipe wall is analyzed using the vibration model of the gas-filled
pipelines to identify the dominant transmission path as the pipe
wall and the gas-filled pipeline can be approximated as a hollow
cylinder. Then, the dispersive behaviors and modal distributions of
the gas leakage acoustic vibrations in different directions are pre-
dicted using the guided wave theory of hollow cylinders. The
experimental results are well agreement with the theoretical pre-
dictions and demonstrate that the axial vibrations are dominated
(23) by a single non-dispersive guided wave with high SNR in the low
frequency region 0e2.5 kHz. The discoveries enhance the under-
standing of the gas-leakage-induced acoustic vibrations and pro-
vide useful leads for the leak detection in the gas pipelines. Based
on the discoveries, we propose a modal separation and dispersion
suppression method by selecting a vibration pick-up direction at
information acquisition stage suitable for improving leak detection
in the gas pipelines.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided for
this research by Natural Science Foundation Project of CQ CSTC
(cstc2015jcyjA40010), Science and Technology Research Project of
Chongqing education committee (kj1500423), PhD Launch Scien-
tific Research projects of Chongqing University of Posts and Tele-
communications (A2015-13) and Youth scientific research projects
of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications (A2015-
66).
Appendix A. Vibration of the pipe wall
With reference to Fig. 1, according to the equilibrium of forces in
the axial direction, it is expressed by
vsz v2 u z
¼r 2 : (A1)
vz vt
Without considering the circumferential variation, the equilib-
rium of forces in the radial direction leads to
v2 u r h i
sq h þ rah ¼ pf ðaÞ  pm ðaÞ a; (A2)
vt 2

where, r is the density of the pipe wall material, sz and sq are the
5. Conclusions axial and circumferential stresses in the pipe wall. pf(a) and pm(a)
are acoustic pressures in the in-pipe gas and external air imposing
In summary, the acoustic coupling between the in-pipe gas and on the pipe wall at r ¼ a respectively.
The generalized Hooke's Law for the shell is
 
E vuz ur
sz ¼ þ n ; (A3)
1  n2 vz a
 
E ur vuz
sq ¼ þ n ; (A4)
1  n2 a vz

where E and n are the Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of the
pipe wall material.
Eqs. (1) and (3) yield
!
v2 u E v2 uz n vur
r 2z þ þ ¼ 0; (A5)
vt 1  n2 vz2 a vz

Eqs. (2) and (4) can be combined to give

 
E ur vuz v2 u r h i
Fig. 13. Attenuation rates of the gas-leakage-induced acoustic vibrations of various
þ n h þ rah ¼ p ðaÞ  pm ðaÞ a: (A6)
directions, which are obtained by absolute values of the first derivatives of the fitting 1  n2 a vz vt 2 f
curves.
 S. Li et al. / Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 41 (2016) 77e86 85

Eqs. (5) and (6) are two coupled shell equations for circumfer-
Z 
ential order n ¼ 0 motion. The traveling wave solutions 1 vpf 1 vpf 
Vfsr ¼ dt ¼  
rf vr jwrf vr 
r¼a
X
2
 
uz ¼ Us e jðutks zÞ
; (A7) j X
2
krfs a krfs ejðutks zÞ :
0
¼ Pfs J0 (B7)
s¼1 rf u s¼1
r in the external air is expressed by
And the velocity Vms
X
2
jðutks zÞ
ur ¼ Ws e (A8)
j X
2
0

s¼1 r
Vms ¼ Pms H0 krms a krms ejðutks zÞ : (B8)
rm u s¼1
are used to describe the pipe wall displacements in the axial and
radial directions respectively, where u is the angular frequency and r is pipe wall vibration velocity expressed by
The Vws
ks is the axial wavenumber for the s1 and s2 waves. Us and Ws are
amplitudes of the pipe wall displacements in the axial and radial vur X2
r
Vws ¼ ¼ ju Ws ejðutks zÞ ; (B9)
directions respectively. vt s¼1

where rf and rm are the densities of the in-pipe gas and the external
air respectively.
Appendix B. Vibration of in-pipe gas and external air According to the boundary condition, the velocity of the in-pipe
gas is equal to that of pipe wall at r ¼ a, Vfsr ¼ Vws
r . Then,

The in-pipe gas is fluid, which can not sustain shear wave. So the .h 0  i
sound pressure pf within the gas can be expressed by a Bessel Pfs ¼ rf u2 Ws krfs J0 krfs a : (B10)
function of order zero,
r ¼ V r leads to
In the same way, Vms ws
X
2   .h 0
i
pf ¼ Pfs J0 krfs r ejðutks zÞ ; (B1) Pms ¼ rm u2 Ws krms H0 krms a : (B11)
s¼1

where, for s1 and s2 waves, Pfs is a sound pressure coefficient within

the in-pipe gas and the internal radial wavenumber krs is related to Appendix C. Nomenclature
the in-pipe gas wavenumber kf by

 2  2 The radial, circumferential and axial displacements ur, uq, uz

krfs ¼ kf  ðks Þ2 : (B2) The density of the pipe wall material r.
The axial and circumferential stresses in the pipe wall sz, sq
The external air surrounding the pipeline is also fluid, which can Acoustic pressures in the in-pipe gas imposing on the pipe wall
not sustain the shear wave. So the sound pressure pm within the at r ¼ a pf(a)
external air is Acoustic pressures in the external air imposing on the pipe wall
at r ¼ a pm(a)
X The Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of the pipe wall ma-
2

pm ¼ Pms H0 krms r ejðutks zÞ ; (11B3) terial E, n
s¼1 The Hankel function of order zero H0.
The densities of the in-pipe gas and the external air rf, rm
where H0 is the Hankel function of order zero and the external The wave speed in the external air cm.
radial wavenumber krms is related with the external air wave- The wavenumber and angular frequency k, u
number km by The acoustic speed in a free gas cf.
The wave speed in an infinite plate cL.

r 2
kms ¼ ðkm Þ2  ðks Þ2 : (B4) The wave speed in the media of infinite free space cfs.
The space averaged mean square acoustic pressure along the
Substitution of these pressure and displacement solutions into pipe length P~2 .
1
Eqs. (5) and (6) can give, The space averaged mean square axial displacement U ~ 2.
2
h i
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