Special to P&GJ. (P&GJ) - Soil moisture () content is the main factor that controls how far and at what concentration natural gas (NG) spreads from a leaked pipeline () underground, a new study has found. Pipeline operators need to factor how the amount of water found in surrounding soil affects gas movement when trying to determine the potential hazards posed by a pipeline () leak, said Southern Methodist University's (SMU's) Kathleen M. Smits (https://www.smu.edu/Lyle/News/2022/Kathleen-Smits-Named-CEE-Chair). Smits led the study recently published (https://online.ucpress.edu/elementa/article/10/1/00095/192225/A-closer-look-at-underground-natural-gas-pipeline) in Elementa, which examined soil properties from 77 locations around the country where a gas leakage had occurred. "We often see that such incidents are the result of a lack of clear protocols to detect the leaks or assess damage," said Smits, SMU Lyle School of Engineering Chair of Civil and Environmental Engineering (https://www.smu.edu/Lyle/Academics/Departments/CEE) and Solomon Professor for Global Development. "That's why there should be more focus on the importance of environmental factors such as soil moisture () and how to properly account for them in leak scenarios." In general, the team, co-led byYounki Cho, a research scientist at Colorado State University's (CSU's) Energy Institute, found that methane gas leaking from a pipeline does not spread as far when the soil moisture content increases. That results in a higher concentration of methane gas close to the leak site where the soil is more moist, the study revealed.
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