Identifying material used in water pipes using acoustic wave analysis

A system for identifying the composition of a water pipe buried below ground, the system comprising:

• a vibration exciter configured to generate controlled vibrations in the water pipe;
• at least one vibration transducer configured to detect a vibration response associated with the water pipe in response to the controlled vibrations;
• and
• a vibration signal analyzer coupled to the at least one vibration transducer and configured to convert the vibration response from a time-domain response to a frequency-domain response by applying a Fourier transform algorithm, analyze the frequency-domain response to identify at least one dominant peak, and identify a frequency associated with the at least one dominant peak as a resonant frequency of the water pipe, and further configured to identify a material of the water pipe based on a comparison of the resonant frequency of the water pipe with a known resonant frequency for a known water pipe material.

A method for identifying service pipes containing lead in a utility, the utility comprising a plurality of service pipes buried below ground and connected to a respective curb stop shut-off valve, the method comprising:

• generating controlled vibrations at at least one service pipe of the plurality of service pipes using a vibration exciter in vibrational communication with the respective curb stop shut-off valve;
• detecting a vibration response associated with the at least one service pipe using at least one vibration transducer in vibrational communication with the at least one service pipe;
• analyzing and processing the vibration response associated with the at least one service pipe using a real time analyzer;
• comparing the processed vibration response associated with the at least one service pipe to a known vibration response of a lead service pipe to determine whether the at least one service pipe contains lead;
• and
• storing the processed vibration response for each of the plurality of service pipes in a remote database for further analysis to identify all the service pipes containing lead for future replacement action planning by the utility.