Determining the position of hydrate blocks in gas pipelines by a radiowave method

Abstract

A radiowave method of detecting and positioning hydrate blocks in pipelines is considered. The method consists in probing a pipeline with a high-frequency nanosecond-duration radio pulse with subsequent measurement of its travel time to the hydrate block and back. Results of a natural experiment and flow charts of a device for determining the position of a hydrate block imitator (ice) in a stub pipe with a diameter of 273 mm. A Gunn diode is used as a generator of microwave pulses with a duration of 10 ns and a basic frequency of 10 GHz. The decay of microwave pulses in the pipe and the potential of the radiowave method are estimated.