Toward establishing a multiparameter approach for monitoring pipeline geohazards via accompanying telecommunications dark fiber

Effective monitoring and assessment of geohazard risks to long-haul oil and gas pipelines is essential to reduce pipeline accidents and mitigate the resulting human casualties and economic losses. Oil and gas pipelines are often “accompanied” by telecommunications fiber-optic infrastructure deployed along them for communications purpose; the possibility of repurposing unused (so-called dark) fiber as distributed sensor arrays offers exciting opportunities for the development of pipeline risk monitoring systems. Here, we present a multiparameter approach to monitor pipeline geohazards using distributed fiber-optic sensing—including distributed strain, temperature, and acoustic sensing—deployed on telecommunications dark fiber network. Through a series of field experiments on a pipeline telecommunications cable crossing hilly terrain, we demonstrated the feasibility of using multiple cores of a single telecom cable to obtain multiparametric information on the strain, temperature, and vibration. The recorded strain signatures, temperature variations, and vibration signals can be indicative of various disastrous events during geohazards development, such as ground movement, soil erosion, oil and gas leakage, and rockfall. Additionally, we established a preliminary model that allows the synergistic use of the acquired multiparametric data. Overall, our results suggest that preexisting networks of fiber-optic telecommunications infrastructure accompanying pipelines could be leveraged as sensing resources to monitor geohazard risks to pipelines. Deeper fusion of multidimensional data and multiparametric information will enable intelligent monitoring, identification, and assessment of a wide range of pipeline threats.