Premium
Utilising hydraulic transient excitation for fatigue crack monitoring of a cast iron pipeline using optical distributed sensing
Author(s) -
Wong Leslie,
Rathnayaka Suranji,
Chiu Wing Kong,
Kodikara Jayantha
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
structural control and health monitoring
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.587
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1545-2263
pISSN - 1545-2255
DOI - 10.1002/stc.2141
Subject(s) - internal pressure , pipeline transport , transient (computer programming) , cast iron , materials science , structural engineering , pipeline (software) , structural health monitoring , pressure sensor , canalisation , leakage (economics) , transient response , engineering , composite material , mechanical engineering , piping , computer science , electrical engineering , macroeconomics , economics , operating system
Summary Corrosion‐induced failures are common in cast iron pipes used in water supply networks. Over times, cracks may initiate from the corroded pits and grow when subjected to fatigue internal loading. When the particular region of the pipe loses its structural capacity, it will eventually lead to leakage or even pipe burst. Thus, it is important to perform permanent and real‐time integrity monitoring on these pipelines. Distributed optical fibre sensors (DOFS) have been proposed to monitor the structural health of water pipelines for the last few decades. Most of the previous studies have shown that DOFS is effective in monitoring the condition of a pipeline subjected to static operating pressure. This paper aims to experimentally demonstrate the ability of distributed optical fibre strain sensor to monitor the fatigue crack growth along the cast iron pipeline subjected to pressure transient. The fatigue test was conducted using a large‐scale cyclic internal pressure loading facility. The DOFS was instrumented on the pipe to monitor the condition of the pipe when subjected to internal pressure loading approximation of water pressure loading (operating pressure and pressure transient) experienced in the field. The measured response will show the potential application of DOFS for crack detection, as well as monitoring the fatigue crack growth along the pipe. The results confirmed that DOFS is able to enhance the detection of cracks along the pipe subjected to pressure transient.