GAVIA as a pipeline inspection vehicle

The GAVIA autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) was purchased through a joint venture of the Institute for Ocean Technology (IOT) and the Institute for Research in Construction (IRC). The vehicle will provide a platform from which freshwater piping systems could be inspected from the inside without removing them from service. In order to stay centralized inside these pipes the vehicle needed to be fitted with centralization legs. Also described in this report is a mechanism whereby laser line scan can be used to inspect these pipes for cracks, or obstructions. A line laser is directed at the wall of the pipe and a camera captures the image of the laser intersecting the wall. A series of these images can be assembled to indicate the condition inside the pipe. In order to test both the legs and the line scan device, a linear-travel test apparatus is currently being set up in the AUV Lab. This apparatus consists of a 2.5 metre linear slide, driven by a servomotor. This will allow us to place the components into a test section of pipe and move them thought the pipe at a constant speed, mimicking the movement of the GAVIA vehicle inside a pipe.