Predicting severity of buildup within pipes using evaluation of residual attenuation

A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing system, causes the computing system to:

• receive a first signal from a first acoustic sensor representing a sound pressure of an acoustical wave travelling in a fluid in a pipe sensed at a first location along the pipe and a second signal from a second acoustic sensor representing the sound pressure of the acoustical wave sensed at a second location along the pipe;
• compute an estimated damping factor for a segment of the pipe between the first location and the second location based on a comparison of the sound pressures sensed at the first location and the second location along the pipe from the first and second signals;
• determine a residual attenuation for the segment of the pipe from a difference between the estimated damping factor and a theoretical damping factor for the pipe based on a material comprising a pipe wall;
• and
• estimate an amount of buildup in the pipe based on the residual attenuation.

A water distribution system comprising:

• an acoustical wave generator in acoustical communication with a pipe in the water distribution system, the acoustical wave generator configured to generate an acoustical wave in a fluid path of the pipe;
• a first acoustic sensor in acoustical communication with the pipe at a first location and configured to measure a sound pressure of the acoustical wave at the first location and produce a first signal representing the sensed sound pressure at the first location;
• a second acoustic sensor in acoustical communication with the pipe at a second location and configured to measure the sound pressure of the acoustical wave at the second location and produce a second signal representing the sensed sound pressure at the second location;
• and
• an acoustic analysis module executing on a pipe assessment system, the acoustic analysis module configured to
• receive the first signal and the second signal,
• compute an estimated damping factor for a segment of the pipe between the first location and the second location based on a comparison of the sound pressures measured at the first location and the second location from the first and second signals,
• determine a residual attenuation for the segment of the pipe from a difference between the estimated damping factor and a theoretical damping factor for the pipe based on a material comprising a pipe wall, and
• estimate an amount of buildup in the pipe based on the residual attenuation.