UNDERWATER PIPELINE MONITORING AND CRACK DETECTION

The world is booming in the present era. The infrastructure, facilities and all other needs are developing technologically as well as efficiently. The basic need of all this development is the energy. The main source of energy is petroleum products even though new sources are emerging. Not only for energy generation but also used as asphalt, road oil, feed stocks for making chemicals, plastics and synthetic materials. And the main petroleum plants are in offshore. Hence these petroleum products reach the sea shore through underwater pipelines. These pipelines are made of high-yield strength steel for withstanding the pressure through it. Small damage or holes in it result of leakage of crude oil, other gaseous and non-gaseous product into the ocean which will result in the destruction of life in water. Hence there should be a proper monitoring in the pipe to avoid the leakages and other damages. The underwater vehicle is a method of monitoring these pipelines. But they use visual inspection, acoustic waves, sonar waves etc. most of the methods are time consuming and some other will affect the underwater life. This paper combines sensor network and AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) for monitoring the pipe more efficiently. By sensor network the exact range of place of the crack can be detected and hence the detection of crack or damage using AUV will be more easy process. The AUV utilizes magnetic flux leakage detection so as to locate the exact position of the crack. By the combination of sensor based network and the AUV the monitoring and detection of crack and damage in underwater pipeline is much efficient.