UCalgary's new flow facility helps advance pipeline leak detection research | News

Water main leaks were a major problem in Calgary last summer, plunging the entire city into two extended periods of water use restrictions after a main pipe suffered a major rupture in June.

But research at a new flow-through facility at the University of Calgary is helping make advances in detecting pipeline leaks and associated water infrastructure, including finding ways to reduce energy loss in water treatment when such incidents occur.

“The research I carry out concerns piping systems and we are particularly looking at methods that allow us to detect whether a pipe is leaking or not,” says Dr. Ron Hugo, BSc (Eng)'89, PhD, professor in the university's Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and director of the Pipeline Engineering Center at the Schulich School of Engineering.

“We are looking for ways to find mechanical signatures that tell us that an error is about to occur or an error has occurred.”

The research follows the unique approach of replicating a natural pipeline failure to achieve the most authentic results possible.

“We take a piece of pipe and intentionally damage it,” says Hugo. “We put it into a flow system we have where we can change either the flow rate or the pressure, so at a fixed flow rate we can increase the pressure to the point where the pipe fails.”

The Advanced Pipeline Research and Innovation Laboratory (APRIL) is a flow-through facility funded by Plains Midstream Canada and later by the former Canadian Energy Pipeline Association since 2019, but began operations in February of this year. This new laboratory in the Mechanical Engineering Building allows for more controlled research.

“It is a unique system in the world because it allows us to control many different variables within a pipeline system,” says Hugo.

In the future, Hugo hopes to collaborate with the UCalgary United Nations University (UNU) hub, which focuses on water, to further his research.

He says he is working with civil engineering professors on a proposal to present to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada that will allow for future collaboration on this challenge.

“It would be a nice mix, bringing together people from civil engineering who deal with reinforced concrete structures and the work we do with piping systems, and then bringing them together for joint research projects,” says Hugo.

The connection between Hugo's research and water infrastructure has to do with how water is distributed in the city and the fact that even a small leak – which goes undetected and does not lead to restrictions on water use – still resources, water, etc . wastes energy.

“It is estimated that between 20 and 25 percent of drinking water escapes from the distribution systems,” says Hugo. “So a lot of energy goes into water treatment, and that energy is wasted when there are these leaks.

“We see an opportunity to help develop better detection technology to prevent these leaks from occurring.”

Hugo believes that real progress can be made with the help of the APRIL Flow facility and those involved in pipeline leak detection research.

“In such an environment, it has enabled a lot of collaborative research with industry, and that has enabled the training of doctoral students,” says Hugo. “Being part of this ecosystem and the University of Calgary have been instrumental in expanding these relationships and that has helped research flourish.”

“It’s given us world-class infrastructure that you wouldn’t find anywhere else.”