Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Water supply networks represent millions of kilometres of aging pipelines around the world. Those pipelines are typically buried and are continuously exposed to corrosion, ground movements and excavation works. The vast majority of the pipelines are made of cast iron and were built during the last century. Pure Technologies, a Canadian company, developed PipeDiver, a pipeline inspection gauge (PIG) for in-line detection of leaks and pipe wall thickness measurements. Pure Technologies will collaborate with École de technologie supérieure on a three-year research program to develop the next generation of in-line pipe inspection gauge. The aim of the project is to add ultrasonic phased array imaging technology to PipeDiver so as to detect axial cracks in large diameter cast-iron pipes.