Fast leak localization based on acoustic signal
attenuation for pipelines in high-noise environment
Georgios-Panagiotis Kousiopoulos, Spyridon Nikolaidis
Physics Department
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki, Greece
Abstract—Pipeline networks are being used worldwide for a
variety of reasons. A major problem that poses an obstacle to
the safe and normal operation of a pipeline network is the
occurrence of leaks. In the past years a large number of leak
localization methods have been developed and they have
presented appreciable accuracy in the estimation of the leak
position. However, apart from the accuracy of such a method,
another important factor is the amount of time needed for a
system implementing this method to provide results, which is a
topic rarely encountered in the literature. In this article a leak
localization method based on the attenuation of acoustic leak
signals propagating in a pipeline is presented. The minimum
duration of the measurements needed for avoiding accuracy
degradation is determined. By this approach accurate results in
shorter time than the traditional time-delay estimation methods
are achieved. Furthermore, since the proposed method is
designed for the environment of an oil refinery, its efficiency is
also tested under high-noise conditions and the corresponding
results are provided.
Keywords—pipeline leak localization, acoustic signals, signal
attenuation, measurement duration, high-noise environment
I. INTRODUCTION
A large number of industrial and commercial applications
rely on the utilization of pipeline networks. Pipelines can be
used for several reasons, like the transportation of fluid
products (e.g. oil, natural gas) among different cities or
countries, the process of fluids in factories etc. They are also
used for the construction of networks needed in urban areas,
such as water and sewer networks.
The transportation of fluids for the aforementioned
reasons by using pipeline networks is, in general, a safe
procedure. However, there is a serious problem that
occasionally impedes the normal and secure operation of such
networks, which is no other than the appearance of leakages.
Leaks can occur in a pipeline for a variety of reasons and can
lead to product loss, environmental pollution or even
hazardous accidents. Over the years many leak localization
techniques referred in the literature have been developed and
applied to pipeline networks. These techniques [1-2] may vary
on the working principle, the number and type of the required
sensors, the implementation cost, the power consumption etc.
As far as the physical background is concerned, a very
interesting category of leak localization techniques is the one
that relies on the acoustic phenomena [3-5] occurring in a
pipeline when a leak is present. The appearance of a leak in a
pipeline results in the creation of vibro-acoustic waves that
propagate along both directions of the pipe and carry the
information needed for the leak point to be identified.
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Meng et al. [6] use these acoustic waves in order to
identify the leak position, by a method based on the cross-
correlation technique. They utilize two sensors mounted at
both ends of the pipeline and they determine the position of
the leak by calculating the cross-correlation function between
the signals received by the two sensors and obtaining (from it)
the time difference of arrival between these two signals.
Moreover, in order to enhance the accuracy of the method,
they take into account the velocity of the fluid in the pipe,
apart from the propagation velocity of the acoustic waves.
Choi et al. [7] and Almeida et al. [8] employ the use of
generalized cross-correlation (GCC) techniques for the
estimation of the time difference of arrival. Choi uses a
modified ML (maximum-likelihood) prefilter in the GCC
function, while Almeida compares the efficiency of the BCC
and PHAT prefilters in the estimation of this time difference
and comes to the conclusion that the BCC prefilter provides
better results, since it is not seriously affected by the system
resonances that can cause errors in the calculation of the time
difference. A similar conclusion about the BCC prefilter was
drawn in [9]. Specifically, it was found that when the BCC
prefilter is used for the GCC technique, it provides more
accurate results than the Roth prefilter.
On the other hand, Liu et al. [10] presented a method that
includes four techniques that can be applied for the
localization of a leak, depending on the situation and the way
that the sensors are installed on the pipe. Two of these
techniques are based on the combination of the cross-
correlation function with the Blind Source Separation (BSS)
and the Wavelet Transform (WT) and the other two
techniques rely on the amplitude attenuation of the acoustic
signals.
Another approach for the identification of the leak position
in a pipeline has been proposed by Jiao et al. [11]. They
developed a method based on which a leak can be localized
by the use of only one sensor. As they explained, this method
relies on the separation of the different modes which an
Acoustic Emission (AE) wave is consisted of.
In most papers in the literature concerning the localization
of leaks in pipelines, the main focus is on the improvement of
the accuracy in the estimation of the leak position. However,
another important factor of the localization procedure is the
time needed for a system implementing a certain localization
algorithm to provide results for the leak position to the user,
especially when this system is employed for the protection of
a pipeline network that contains flammable fluids like the ones
treated in a refinery. In such a case the leak localization system
should be able to respond quickly before severe product loss,
environmental pollution or even dangerous accidents happen.
Apart from that, another issue which is not frequently
encountered in the literature is the efficiency of the leak
localization methods under high-noise conditions.
In this paper a leak localization method focusing on these
two issues (i.e. fast response and high-noise environment) is
presented. It is based on the attenuation of the energy of the
leak acoustic waves, as they propagate in the pipe. This
method has been developed for the Hellenic Petroleum
refinery in Thessaloniki and it has been experimentally
validated in a laboratory setup, which will be described later.
Proper filtering of the measurements is employed in order to
deal with the external noise and results for the accuracy in the
leak position estimation and for the minimum measurement
duration that can be used (which affects the response time) are
provided.
Fig. 1. Pipeline setup for leak localization based on acoustic signal
II. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND attenuation.
When a leak occurs in a pipeline, vibro-acoustic waves are
created in the leak point and propagate along the pipe, towards As it can be observed, if the value of the attenuation
both directions. As an acoustic wave travels in a pipeline, its coefficient α is known, the leak position can be determined by
energy decreases exponentially with the distance from the leak calculating the rms values V1 and V2 of the acoustic signals
point [12]. This means that the amplitude of such a wave obtained by the two sensors and using equation (4). The way
decreases exponentially, as well. This feature can be used in the value of the attenuation coefficient is extracted will be
order to localize a leak in a pipe. described in the next section of the paper.
The identification of the leak point based on the energy III. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
attenuation can be achieved as follows: let us consider the
The leak localization method described in this paper was
pipeline setup shown in Fig. 1. As it can be seen, two sensors
tested experimentally in a laboratory setup. This setup
are mounted on the external surface of the pipeline at a certain
includes the following parts:
distance L between them. When a leak occurs at a certain point
in the pipe, an acoustic wave propagates from the leak point a) Steel pipeline (shown in Fig. 2) with a diameter of 10
towards sensor 1 and another one travels from this point to cm and a straight part (without any elbows) with a
sensor 2. If the energy of the acoustic waves when they start length of 10 meters, containing water.
propagating is E0, then the energies E1 and E2 of the waves
reaching the sensors 1 and 2, respectively, are smaller than E0 b) A number of valves located at different points on the
due to the attenuation they have suffered, as these waves were pipe, by the help of which leaks are emulated.
traveling in the pipe. Accordingly, if V1 and V2 are the rms c) Expansion tank needed for the regulation of the
values of the voltage signals picked up by the sensors 1 and 2, pressure inside the pipeline.
respectively, and V0 is the rms value corresponding to the
initial energy E0, then V1 and V2 are smaller than V0 and the d) Two PCB 352C33 accelerometers [13] mounted on
following two equations describe the attenuation of the the external surface of the pipe.
acoustic signals: e) A data acquisition unit consisted of the NI-9232 data
− ax acquisition card [14] and the NI cDAQ-9174 chassis
V1 = V0 ⋅ e (1) [15].
− a( L− x)
V2 = V0 ⋅ e (2) f) A computer equipped with LabVIEW software.
where α is the attenuation coefficient (α > 0) and x is the leak
position (distance of the leak point from sensor 1). By dividing
equations (1) and (2) we get:

V1
= e aL − 2 ax (3)
V2

Finally, by taking the natural logarithm of both parts of

equation (3) and solving for x, the mathematical formula for
the leak position is obtained:
Fig. 2. The pipeline of the laboratory setup.
L 1 V 
x = − ln  1  (4) First, a set of measurements was conducted in the
2 2a  V2  laboratory setup in order to determine the value of the
attenuation coefficient. For this reason a number of leaks were
A mathematical expression for the leak position similar to emulated at known points in the pipe and the rms values of the
equation (4) is presented in [12]. acoustic signals obtained by the sensors were calculated. Then

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the diagram of the rms values vs the distance of the sensor TABLE I. RESULTS FOR 5 SEC MEASUREMENTS (WITHOUT NOISE)
from the leak point was plotted for each of the two sensors and Real value Estimated Error rate (%)
an exponential fitting was performed for each diagram. As an of x (m) value of x (m) (Absolute value)
example, the exponential fitting for sensor 2 is depicted in Fig. Leak point 1 0.78 1.60 9.7
3. By comparing the equations derived from the two fittings Leak point 2 2.29 2.28 0.1
with equations (1) and (2), two values (very close to each
Leak point 3 4.31 4.07 2.8
other) for the attenuation coefficient are obtained. The average
Leak point 4 5.36 5.50 1.7
of these values is taken into account as the attenuation
coefficient. Leak point 5 7.36 8.28 10.8

TABLE II. RESULTS FOR 0.01 SEC MEASUREMENTS (WITHOUT NOISE)

Real value Estimated Error rate (%)
of x (m) value of x (m) (Absolute value)
Leak point 1 0.78 1.20 5.0
Leak point 2 2.29 2.34 0.6
Leak point 3 4.31 3.95 4.3
Leak point 4 5.36 5.33 0.3
Leak point 5 7.36 7.97 7.2

TABLE III. RESULTS FOR 0.005 SEC MEASUREMENTS (WITHOUT

Fig. 3. Exponential fitting for sensor 2. NOISE)

Real value Estimated Error rate (%)

After the value of the attenuation coefficient is determined, of x (m) value of x (m) (Absolute value)
another set of leaks were emulated (at different positions than
Leak point 1 0.78 1.18 4.7
the ones used for the extraction of the attenuation coefficient)
Leak point 2 2.29 2.41 1.4
and measurements were conducted in order to test the
efficiency of the presented method. As mentioned earlier, the Leak point 3 4.31 3.75 6.6
two main aspects for which this method is tested are its ability Leak point 4 5.36 5.43 0.9
to work with measurements of short duration and its efficiency Leak point 5 7.36 7.97 7.1
under high-noise conditions. For the first aspect, leak
measurements with different durations were conducted and TABLE IV. RESULTS FOR 5 SEC MEASUREMENTS (WITH NOISE)
the accuracy in the estimation of the leak position was
Real value Estimated Error rate (%)
evaluated. This is very important because long acquisition of x (m) value of x (m) (Absolute value)
duration is one of the main reasons for which a leak
Leak point 1 0.78 1.40 7.3
localization system is unable to provide fast results. For the
second aspect, measured noise from the field (i.e. the refinery) Leak point 2 2.29 2.34 0.6
was added to the initial measurements, by using LabVIEW, in Leak point 3 4.31 3.93 4.5
order to simulate the noisy environment of the field. Then a Leak point 4 5.36 5.83 5.6
proper filtering algorithm, which is described in [16], was Leak point 5 7.36 7.80 5.1
applied to the noisy measurements. After the noisy
measurements were filtered, the leak localization method was TABLE V. RESULTS FOR 0.01 SEC MEASUREMENTS (WITH NOISE)
employed and the accuracy in the leak position estimation was
Real value Estimated Error rate (%)
tested. Results for both the acquisition duration and the ability of x (m) value of x (m) (Absolute value)
of the method to localize leaks in high-noise conditions are
Leak point 1 0.78 1.43 7.7
presented in the following section.
Leak point 2 2.29 2.55 3.1
IV. RESULTS Leak point 3 4.31 3.86 5.3
As it has been explained earlier, the experiments Leak point 4 5.36 5.36 0.0
conducted in the laboratory setup concern the ability of the Leak point 5 7.36 8.52 13.7
leak localization method to work in high-noise situations and
with short measurements. In Tables I to VI, results for the leak TABLE VI. RESULTS FOR 0.005 SEC MEASUREMENTS (WITH NOISE)
localization are presented for different acquisition durations
and for both the case without noise and for the case with noise. Real value Estimated Error rate (%)
In these tables the error rates are expressed as percentages of of x (m) value of x (m) (Absolute value)
the error in position to the distance between the sensors (which Leak point 1 0.78 1.49 8.4
was equal to 8.5 m). At this point, it should be mentioned that Leak point 2 2.29 2.38 1.0
the level of the noise that was added to the leak measurements Leak point 3 4.31 3.72 6.9
was adjusted so that it was similar to the one in the field (i.e. Leak point 4 5.36 4.16 14.1
the refinery). Moreover, the value of the attenuation Leak point 5 7.36 8.59 14.4
coefficient was found to be 0.196 m-1 for the case without
noise and 0.215 m-1 for the case with noise. These two values
are quite close (the difference between them is below 10%), It was found experimentally that the minimum acquisition
which shows that the existence of noise does not influence the duration for which the method presented in this paper is able
value of the attenuation coefficient significantly. to function properly is 10 ms. For measurement durations

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below this limit, the accuracy in the estimation of the leak
position starts to decrease for some leak points (e.g. Table VI,
leak point 4). However, from Tables I and II it can be seen that
until the limit of 10 ms, satisfying localization accuracy is
achieved. The same thing is observed in Tables IV and V
(noisy leak measurements), which means that the acquisition
duration can be safely set to 10 ms. At this point, it should be
mentioned that in Tables I to VI only the leak points 2, 3 and
4 should be taken into consideration, because the other two
leak points (1 and 5) are in a close proximity to the pipe
elbows, where reflected waves are created. Due to this
proximity, the acoustic waves coming from either one of these
two leak points reach the elbows with a small decrease in
amplitude (since the propagation distance is short) and,
therefore, non-negligible reflected waves are produced. As a
result, the sensor which is near the pipe end where the
reflected waves are created receives a complex signal,
consisting of the initial leak signal and the reflected one. This
effect causes errors and it needs further research. A similar
effect is described in [12] where reflected waves reach a
sensor which is located in a position near a surge tank.
Furthermore, by comparing the results presented in Tables
I to III (measurements without noise) with the corresponding
ones in Tables IV to VI (measurements with noise), it can be
seen that the leak localization method based on the acoustic
signal attenuation can provide reliable results even under
high-noise conditions. In Table VII the maximum error rate
for each case discussed earlier (with or without noise and for
different acquisition durations) are provided, by taking into
account only the leak points 2, 3 and 4 (which do not suffer
from reflections).
TABLE VII. MAXIMUM ERROR RATE FOR DIFFERENT CASES
Acquisition duration Mean error rate (%)
without noise
5 sec 2.8
10 ms 4.3
5 ms 6.6
5 sec 5.6
with noise
10 ms 5.3
5 ms 14.1
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a leak localization method based on the
attenuation that the leak acoustic signals suffer, as they
propagate in a pipeline, is presented. This method was tested
in a laboratory setup and two main issues were examined: the
ability of the method to work with measurements of short
duration and its efficiency under high-noise conditions, like
the ones encountered in a refinery. The results of this research
showed that the minimum acquisition duration that can be
employed is 10 ms and the presented method, when combined
with proper filtering, can provide efficient results even in
high-noise environments. Further research should be
conducted for leak points near pipe elbows, where reflected
acoustic waves are created and result in a decrease of the
localization accuracy.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research has been co‐financed by the European
Regional Development Fund of the European Union and
Greek national funds through the Operational Program
Competitiveness, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, under the
call RESEARCH – CREATE – INNOVATE (project code:
T1EDK-00791).
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