Raman distributed temperature sensor for oil leakage detection in soil: a field trial and future trends

In this paper we perform field validation of distributed Raman temperature sensing (RDTS) for oil leakage detection in soil. The capability of the distributed Raman sensor in detecting and locating, with high accuracy and spatial resolution, drop leakages in soil is demonstrated through a water leakage simulation in a field trial. The future trends and the high potential of the Raman DTS technology for oil and gas leakage detection in long pipelines is then outlined in this paper by reporting lab experiments demonstrating accurate meter scale temperature measurement over more than 50 km of standard single mode fiber. The proposed solution, based on distributed Simplex coding techniques, can be competitive in terms of cost and performance with respect to other distributed sensing technologies.