Soil moisture content is the main factor that controls how far and at what concentration natural gas spreads from a leaked pipeline underground, a new study has found.
Soil moisture content is the main factor that controls how far and at what concentration natural gas spreads from a leaked pipeline underground, a new study has found.
Pipeline operators need to factor how the amount of water found in surrounding soil affects gas movement when trying to determine the potential hazards posed by a pipeline leak, said SMU’s Kathleen M. Smits, who led the study recently published in the journal Elementa that examined soil properties from 77 locations around the country where a gas leakage had occurred.
“We don’t need to look any further than Dallas or Georgetown, Texas to see where underground pipeline leaks have the potential to result in catastrophic outcomes,” said Smits, SMU Lyle School of Engineering Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Solomon Professor for Global Development. “We often see that such incidents are the result of a lack of clear protocols to detect the leaks or assess damage. That’s why there should be more focus on the importance of environmental factors such as soil moisture and how to properly account for them in leak scenarios.”
Read more at Southern Methodist University
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