Detecting leaks in hydrocarbon storage tanks using electrical resistance tomography

摘要

Two field experiments are reported herein to evaluate the utility of electrical resistance tomography (ERT) for detecting and locating leaks as well as delineating any resulting plumes emanating from steel underground storage tanks (UST). Current leak detection methods for single shell tanks require careful inventory monitoring, usually from liquid level sensors within the tank, or placement of chemical sensors in the soil under and around the tank. Liquid level sensors can signal a leak but are limited in sensitivity and, of course, give no information about the location or the leak or the distribution of the resulting plume. External sensors are expensive to retrofit and must be very densely spaced to assure reliable detection, especially in heterogeneous soils. The rational for using subsurface tomography is that it may not have any of these shortcomings.