The authors have developed an active acoustic automatic leak-detection sonar (ALDS) designed to detect hydrocarbon leaks (mono- and multiphase oil and gas) at significant ranges, allowing coverage of wide areas from a single sensor. The system’s single subsea sensor offers 360° continuous coverage, providing automatic, robust detection and localization of any leak, followed by an alert within tens of seconds of a leak developing. This paper provides a case study of an experimental program in which the system underwent trials in deep water (2000 m) at the Thunderhorse field in the US Gulf of Mexico (GOM).
Introduction
Most methods for detecting small leaks—for example, passive acoustic detectors that “listen” for the sound of a leak—have very limited range, which makes them suitable for applications such as pipeline surveys but not for wider field coverage. ALDS was developed to address the requirements for a system that can provide leak detection, including the ability to localize the leak, from a single point for a whole drill center.
