Discussion of 'Standing Wave Difference Method for Leak Detection in Pipeline Systems' by Dfdia I. C. Covas, Helena M. Ramos, and Antonio Betamio de Almeida

摘要

The discussers would like to commend Covas et al. on their work in relation to leak detection in pipeline systems using frequency-domain concepts. The purpose of this discussion is to clarify some of the concepts presented in the subject paper and to promote general discussion on the relationship between time-domain and frequency-domain fault detection methods. The subject paper presents a method-the standing wave difference method-to determine the location of a fault (in this case, a leak) by observing the sinusoidal-like pattern a leak generates in the energy spectrum of measured head at a downstream valve. The frequency of this sinusoidal-like pattern is estimated using Fourier transform and the location of the leak is determined from this frequency. The discussers contend that the standing wave difference method is more akin to a time-domain method than a frequency-domain method.