Leak Detection for Potable Water Lines at Fort Hood: Final Report on Project AR-F-313 for FY05

Abstract

Thousands of miles of direct-buried water distribution lines are subject to severe corrosion at almost all U.S. Army installations. Leakage of storage tanks and piping systems has been identified as a mission-critical problem. To demonstrate acoustics-based leak-detection technology for the Department of Defense (DoD) Corrosion Protection and Control (CPC) Program, permanent acoustic leak-monitoring sensors were installed on potable water lines at Fort Hood, Killeen, TX, during 24 April-31 May 2005. As a result of this work, 25 permanent acoustic leak detection sensors now monitor about 7 miles of potable water lines in remote, little traveled areas, where a water leak would not likely be discovered for a very long time. To retrieve the leak status from the 25 sensors, one method is to use a special radio receiver that can be driven past the sensors periodically, and the other is to use a central computer equipped with cellular telephone modems that retrieve the data automatically. A few problems were experienced during the project, but all were success-fully solved. During the project, lessons were learned about some installation and operation pitfalls that will benefit others who undertake the installation of permanent sensors on pipelines at other Army installations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2007
Accession Number
ADA593380

Entities

People

  • Sean Morefield

Organizations

  • Engineer Research and Development Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acoustic Detection
  • Acoustics
  • Computers
  • Corrosion
  • Corrosion Inhibition
  • Cross Correlation
  • Data Sets
  • Department Of Defense
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Drinking Water
  • Global Positioning Systems
  • Operating Systems
  • Pipes
  • Piping Systems
  • Radio Equipment
  • Radio Receivers

Readers

  • Facility/Structural Engineering.
  • Inertial Navigation Systems.
  • Sensor Fusion and Tracking Systems.