UCalgary’s new flow facility helps advance research into pipeline leak detection

Water pipeline leaks were a big issue in Calgary this past summer, plunging the entire city into two extended periods of water-use restrictions after a mainline suffered a major break in June.

But research at a new University of Calgary flow facility is helping make advancements to pipeline leak detection and related water infrastructure, including finding ways to reduce energy lost in water treatment when such incidents occur. 

“The research that I perform involves pipeline systems and what we specifically look at is methods of being able to detect whether or not a pipeline is leaking,” says Dr. Ron Hugo, BSc (Eng)’89, PhD, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering and director of the Pipeline Engineering Centre in the Schulich School of Engineering.  

“What we're looking for are ways to be able to find mechanical signatures that would tell us that a failure is coming, or a failure has occurred.” 

The research follows the unique approach of recreating a natural pipeline failure in order to capture the most authentic results.  

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

The Advanced Pipeline Research and Innovation Laboratory (APRIL) is a flow facility that began receiving funding from Plains Midstream Canada in 2019, and later the former Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, but became operational in February of this year. This new laboratory, located in the Mechanical Engineering Building, allows for more-controlled research. 

“It's a world-unique facility because it enables us to control a lot of different variables within a pipeline system,” says Hugo.

Collaborating with the UCalgary United Nations University (UNU) Hub, which is focused on water, is something Hugo hopes to do in the future to advance his research. 

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

“That would be a nice blend, by taking people from civil engineering who study reinforced concrete structures and the work that we do with pipeline systems and then bring them together for collaborative research projects,” Hugo says. 

The connection between Hugo’s research and water infrastructure has to do with how water is distributed throughout the city, and the fact that even a small leak — the type that goes undetected and does not result in water-use restrictions — still wastes resources, water and energy. 

“The estimate is between 20 to 25 per cent of potable water leaks from the distribution systems,” says Hugo. “And so, a lot of energy goes into the treatment of water and that’s energy that is being wasted when you have these leaks. 

“We see the opportunity of being able to assist in the development of better detection technology to prevent these leaks from occurring.” 

With the help of the APRIL flow facility and those involved in the research on pipeline leak detection, Hugo believes true progress can be made. 

“In this type of environment, it has enabled a lot of collaborative research with industry, and that has enabled the training of graduate students,” says Hugo. “So, being in this ecosystem and the University of Calgary has been very instrumental in kind of growing those relationships and that has helped the research blossom.  

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