Mathematical Model of Leakage during Pressure Tests of Oil and Gas Pipelines

Abstract

Leakage may occur during pressure tests of gas pipelines. Locating the position of leakage followed by immediate repair work becomes very important. On the basis of both the theory of natural gas pipeline transportation and the procedure of pressure test, this paper established a mathematical model of leakage during pressure tests of gas pipelines. Leakage position function and discharge function, as well as the whole numerical simulation process, are studied in this paper by applying numerical inversion to partial differential equations. The theory and methods specified in this paper also can be used for leakage detection in an oil and gas pipeline’s daily operation.