1. Buried Pipe Infrastructure Researchers: Gavin Sailor, Ali Hassan-Zahraree, Juanjuan Zhu, Michele Schirru, Mark Ke Ma Academics: Richard Collins, Robin Mills, Sean Anderson, Tony Dodd, Rob Dwyer-Joyce and Joby Boxall

2. The challenges: Ageing and deteriorating pipe infrastructure Increasing failure rates Cost and disruption of maintenance and repair Inaccurate / uncertain location of buried infrastructure The need: Effective and efficient low cost asset condition assessment and location Introduction

3. Current approaches: Size of devices – larger mains only Internal surface for plastic and cast iron pipes Some external surface (wall thickness) - approach and pipe material dependent Voids not detected - loss of support a major precursor to failure Limited location accuracy - often requires surface tracking Opportunities / requirements: Through bore hydrants for deployment Keyhole repair techniques System to remain live / operational

4. Sensor arrays and signal processing Pipe wall thickness, cracks and geometry External ground conditions - detection of voids Initial focus on plastic, metal now developing Location and mapping Algorithms to simultaneously localise and map the pipe network Small robotic platform Capable of operating submerged, in confined spaces, transport sensor arrays Aims

5. The team

6. Demonstrated the potential for external ground measurement from inside pipes Experimentally investigated a range of plastic pipe materials and external media Sensing – ultrasound

7. Sensing – pipe wall Slots – machined, full and partial depth Cracks – impact induced

8. Determined optimum ultrasound sensor properties, i.e. frequency and focal length Tested sensitivity to sensor position and orientation Range of voids and external media Sensing – void detection

9. Saturation effects Saturation level an important ground condition parameter Testing the potential to detect external ground saturation using ultrasound measurement Metal Pipes Metal makes up the greatest percentage of buried pipes Metal poses challenges for ultrasound techniques Developing novel processes to extend the void detection techniques to metal pipes Sensing – current activity

10. Figure 5: Mapping and localisation experimental results. Developing mechanisms for robot navigation in the unique challenges of pipeline environment: feature sparse limited to proximity sensors limited routes through environment, single perspective on features Developed sensor fusion technique to make optimal use of motor data and a priori map of features to locate robot, high accuracy in laboratory Simultaneous Location And Mapping (SLAM)

11. Development of robotic inspection device target 50mm diameter pipe upwards Design specification Conceptual designs Prototyping Deployment Sensor package Processing Communications Robotic platform

12. Develop a robust platform for sensors and potentially a payload Prevent release of discolouration material from pipe walls Capable of carrying multiple sensors Steerable Modular Navigation and mapping Improve navigation techniques Implement additional navigation sensors to allow for pipeline mapping as well as localisation Improve accuracy of localisation Robotic platform & location – current activity

13. Integrate the sensors into the robotic platform and test Initially in facilities at UoS Then testing at field site(s) Where next - integration and testing

14. Thank you Please come and see the demonstration