Buried Service Line Material Characterization Using Stress Wave Propagation: Numerical and Experimental Investigations

Abstract

Lead-based water pipelines pose a significant public health risk in the US. The challenge lies in locating these pipelines, as current identification technologies have limitations. This study discusses potential and challenges of identifying the water Service Line (SL) material through a stress wave propagation methodology. Since buried service lines are surrounded by soil and contain water, the stress wave propagation is non trivial. This work presents numerical simulations to investigate the applicability of the proposed method. First, authors consider wave propagation properties that could be used in a stress wave approach to identify buried lead based pipelines. For instance, dispersion curves are quite different for steel, copper, Lead, and PVC pipes filled with water. While the soil surrounding pipes causes a decrease in wave propagation energy due to the energy leakage into the soil medium, this phenomenon can enable the detection of leaked waves with sufficiently sensitive sensors installed near the soil surface. The received signals vary for different types of pipe materials, allowing to differentiate among service line materials. This study’s numerical simulations and lab experiments suggest that stress wave propagation could become a valuable tool for identifying buried lead-based water SL materials.