Pipeline supervision: Comparative evaluation of different models for leak detection and localization

The paper deals with the comparison of different mathematical models with regard to their usage in the model-based leak-monitoring scheme. The pipeline is represented as a two-port system. Three models are compared: a nonlinear distributed parameters model, a linearised model whose transcendent transfer function is obtained by a Laplace transformation and corresponding initial and boundary conditions and a simplified lumped parameter model which is obtained by the Padé approximation. All three models are tested on a real pipeline data with an artificially generated leak.