Empirical Wave Speed Estimation in Compressible Fluid-Filled Pipelines for Source Localization of Damage

Damage in buried pipelines can lead to significant issues, including economic losses, safety hazards such as explosions, and environmental pollution. Therefore, accurately identifying damage is crucial for efficient pipeline management, accident prevention, and timely responses. Research has focused on using vibration signals for detecting damage in buried pipelines due to the waves that propagate along the internal fluid of the pipeline. These waves can cover long distances and are thus effective for locating damage. This study estimated the speed of fluid -coupled waves in in-service buried pipelines through experiments on a pipeline with a diameter of 80A and length of 220 m, using accelerometers to measure fluid -coupled vibrations. The optimal frequency band for estimating wave speed was identified using the time -shift coherence function. Results indicated an empirical value of the compressible fluid -coupled wave speed in the tested pipeline that was consistent with the theoretical value.