Leak detection of non-isothermal transient flow of hydrogen-natural gas mixture

Transient pressure wave detection analysis to detect the location of leakage of non-isothermal flow in an inclined pipeline containing hydrogen-natural gas mixture is investigated. The governing equations are solved using the reduced order modelling technique. The effects of inclination angles, mass ratio of gas mixture and temperature change on the pressure and celerity waves in an inclined pipeline are discussed. The solutions for isothermal flow in a horizontal pipeline show good agreement with published results. For non-isothermal flow an increase in the mass ratio lead to an increase in the pressure and celerity waves, while the leak location and amount of leak discharge decrease. However, it is noted that the amount of leak discharge is still higher than that of isothermal flow. It is also observed that an increase in the inclination angle increases the pressure drop and leak discharge but the celerity wave and the leak location do not seem to be affected. Thus, to reduce the leak discharge, the inclination angle of the pipeline should be reduced and further, to ensure that leakage does not occur before the calculated leak position, the mass ratio of hydrogen to natural gas should not be more than 0.5. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.