Leakage detection and location in gas pipelines through an LPV identification approach

A new approach to gas leakage detection in high pressure distribution networks is proposed, where two leakage detectors are modelled as a Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) system whose scheduling signals are, respectively, intake and offtake pressures. Running the two detectors simultaneously allows for leakage location. First, the pipeline is identified from operational data, supplied by REN-Gasodutos and using an LPV systems identification algorithm proposed in [Lopes dos Santos et al., 2008b]. Each leakage detector uses two Kalman filters where the fault is viewed as an augmented state. The first filter estimates the flow using a calculated scheduling signal, assuming that there is no leakage. Therefore it works as a reference. The second one uses a measured scheduling signal and the augmented state is compared with the reference value. Whenever there is a significant difference, a leakage is detected. The effectiveness of this method is illustrated with an example where a mixture of real and simulated data is used.