Buried Pipe InfrastructureResearchers: Gavin Sailor, Ali Hassan-Zahraree,

Juanjuan Zhu, Michele Schirru, Mark Ke Ma

Academics: Richard Collins, Robin Mills, Sean Anderson, Tony Dodd, Rob Dwyer-Joyce and Joby Boxall

The challenges:• Ageing and deteriorating

pipe infrastructure• Increasing failure rates• Cost and disruption of

maintenance and repair• Inaccurate / uncertain

location of buried infrastructure

The need:• Effective and efficient

low cost asset condition assessment and location

Introduction

Introduction

Current approaches:• Size of devices – larger mains only• Internal surface for plastic and cast

iron pipes• Some external surface (wall

thickness) - approach and pipe material dependent

• Voids not detected - loss of support a major precursor to failure

• Limited location accuracy - often requires surface tracking

Opportunities / requirements:• Through bore hydrants for

deployment• Keyhole repair techniques• System to remain live /

operational

Sensor arrays and signal processing• Pipe wall thickness, cracks and geometry• External ground conditions - detection of voids• Initial focus on plastic, metal now developing

Location and mapping• Algorithms to simultaneously localise and map the pipe network

Small robotic platform • Capable of operating submerged, in confined spaces, transport

sensor arrays

Aims

The team

Demonstrated the potential for external ground measurement from inside pipesExperimentally investigated a range of plastic pipe materials and external media

Sensing – ultrasound

Sensing – pipe wall

x

y

Slots – machined, full and partial depth

Cracks – impact induced

Ultrasonic transducer

Water bath

Determined optimum ultrasound sensor properties, i.e. frequency and focal lengthTested sensitivity to sensor position and orientationRange of voids and external media

Sensing – void detection

Saturation effects• Saturation level an

important ground condition parameter

• Testing the potential to detect external ground saturation using ultrasound measurement

Metal Pipes• Metal makes up the greatest

percentage of buried pipes• Metal poses challenges for

ultrasound techniques• Developing novel processes

to extend the void detection techniques to metal pipes

Sensing – current activity

Developing mechanisms for robot navigation in the unique challenges of pipeline environment:

• feature sparse• limited to proximity sensors• limited routes through environment, single perspective on

featuresDeveloped sensor fusion technique to make optimal use of motor data and a priori map of features to locate robot, high accuracy in laboratory

Simultaneous Location And Mapping (SLAM)

Development of robotic inspection device• target 50mm diameter pipe

upwards• Design specification• Conceptual designs• Prototyping• Deployment • Sensor package• Processing• Communications

Robotic platform

Robotic platform• Develop a robust platform for

sensors and potentially a payload

• Prevent release of discolouration material from pipe walls

• Capable of carrying multiple sensors

• Steerable• Modular

Navigation and mapping• Improve navigation

techniques • Implement additional

navigation sensors to allow for pipeline mapping as well as localisation

• Improve accuracy of localisation

Robotic platform & location – current activity

Integrate the sensors into the robotic platform and testInitially in facilities at UoSThen testing at field site(s)

Where next - integration and testing

Thank you

Please come and see the demonstration