Pinhole location in a pipeline

A novel method based on an acoustic approach is described for carrying a pinhole occurring in a closed, empty liquid pipe. The method requires only one microphone set at a terminal in the closed pipeline. A simple algorithm applying the fourier transformation to the acoustic signal detected by the microphone yields the accurate location of the pinhole site of the pipeline. Laboratory experiments validated the proposed pinhole location method. The method located a circular pinhole, with a 0.3 mm diameter, in the pipe. The results were unique, clear, and accurate