The Rover Pipeline is a 713-mile interstate natural gas project to transport 3.25 billion cubic feet of domestically produced natural gas per day from the Marcellus and Utica Shale production to markets in the Midwest, Northeast, East Coast, Gulf Coast and Canada. Once complete, the pipeline will have direct deliveries to Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan and into the Dawn Storage Hub in Ontario, Canada, for redistribution back into the U.S. or into the Canadian market. Approximately 70% of the pipeline passes under agricultural land and runs parallel to existing pipelines, power lines and roadways. A particular portion of the pipeline in the Appalachian region is located on a slop that induces additional stress to the pipeline. To allow a continuous monitoring of that critical section, two 48-inch tubes of each 500’ were instrumented using three lines at 120°of SMARTProfile strain and temperature sensor.
Fibre optic monitoring improves the spatial coverage for the data’s collection and allows for an automatic and continuous sampling across the entire concerned pipeline portion. The fibre senses changes in pipe strain, as well as temperature changes that arise from possible leaks or third party intrusion.
Applus+ – a worldwide leader in the testing, inspection and certification sector – had less than four weeks to compile equipment requests for Smartec and successfully delivered the fibre optic strain monitoring solution using the latest and best technology in the field, greatly satisfying the client and providing them with better knowledge of the life cycle of their assets.
