Patent ID: 11506562

Abstract:
A fluid pipe 1 is monitored using a distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) fibre 10 provided within pipe 1. The DAS fibre 10 is coupled at one end to a light emitter 101 and a light detector 102. The light emitter 101 emits light pulses into the DAS fibre. The light detector 102 detects backscattered light so as to provide an indication of the vibration experienced by each section of the DAS fibre 10 and thus of vibration characteristic of particular pipe events including leaks of the pipe 1. The DAS fibre 10 in a pipe 1 can also be used to locate the route of a buried pipe 1 by successively tamping the ground surface at a number of locations A-E in the vicinity of the suspected route of the pipe 1 and comparing the tamping vibrations detected from each location A-E.