Leak Detection

varisim^TM helps you simulate and manage every component of a pipeline system with complete accuracy.

The varisim^TM Leak Detection technology provides high accuracy, high capability leak detection on all single phase pipelines.

Simulation Software Limited has significant experience in the pipeline leak detection environment, and this has been fully exploited within varisim^TM to create some of the best leak detection approaches for oil and gas systems. Our systems expand the capabilities of the two principal software-based methodologies that analyse the physical reaction to a leak in the pipeline.

Combined techniques for leak detection

varisim^TM uses balancing techniques to detect seeping leaks over extended timeframes, while pressure monitoring techniques detect large leaks very quickly. It makes sense to combine these effects to ensure the full range of leak detection capability. Although the physical reaction to a leak will never change, the way that the physical reaction is interrogated can always be improved.

Simulator recommended

A simulator should always be used on gas pipelines in order to accommodate the compressible nature of the fluid. Regardless, if the instrumentation permits we would always recommend the inclusion of the simulator model to increase accuracy and reduce the false alarm rate. A simulator also improves capability on pipelines with transient conditions, variable product properties and changing flow regimes which are commonly found on many pipelines worldwide.

Balance and Pressure Wave monitoring both provide a response that can be analysed to detect the presence of a leak. The simulator-based balance methods produce imbalance responses in addition to important divergences between measured and calculated values of pressure and flow at key locations on the pipeline or network.

The pressure wave method monitors the change in pressure at key locations on the pipeline and verifies the presence of a true leak by verifying the times at which the pressure changes occur.

Raising true alarms

The presence of responses indicates an unexpected disturbance in the pipeline or an inconsistency in the systems’ calculations. Advanced methodologies are employed by the leak detection process to detect the presence of a true leak without raising false leak alarms. The methodologies include traditional filter and threshold comparison methods, statistical analysis methods and more recently, the application of artificial intelligence processes that self learn the pipelines’ behaviour.