Testing the application of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for CO2 leak detection at the Ginninderra controlled release facility  

Authors / CoAuthors

Berko, H. | Feitz, A.J.

Abstract

Lagrangian stochastic (LS) forward modelling of CO2 plumes from above-surface release experiments conducted at the GA-CO2CRC Ginninderra GHG controlled release facility demonstrated that small surface leaks are likely to disperse rapidly and unlikely to be detected at heights greater 4 m; this was verified using a rotorcraft to map out the plume. The CO2 sensing rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV) developed at the Australian National University, Canberra, is equipped with a CO2 sensor (3 ppm accuracy and 2 s response time), a GPS, lidar and a communication module. It was developed to detect, locate and quantify CO2 gas leaks. The choice of a rotorcraft UAV allows slower flight speeds compared to speeds of a fixed-wing UAV; and the electric powered motor enables flight times of 12 min. During the experiments, gaseous CO2 (100 kg per day) was released from a small diffuse source located in the middle of the paddock of the controlled release facility, and the RUAV, flying repeatedly over the CO2 source at a few metres height, recorded CO2 concentrations up to 85 ppm above background. Meteorological parameters measured continuously at the site were input in the LS model. Mapped out horizontal and vertical CO2 concentrations established the need to be close to the ground in order to detect CO2 leakage using aerial techniques. Using the rotorcraft as a mobile sensor could be an expedient mechanism to detect plumes over large areas, and would be important for early detection of CO2 leaks arising from CO2 geological storage activities.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

78482

Contact for the resource

Keywords

• External PublicationConference Paper

( Theme )

• atmosphere

( Theme )

• aerial

( Theme )

• numerical modelling

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Atmospheric Sciences

• Published_Internal

Publication Date

2013-01-01T00:00:00

Creation Date

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence    

Access - license

Use - license

Status

Purpose

Maintenance Information

asNeeded

Topic Category

climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere

Series Information

Lineage

none

Parent Information

Extents

[-35.5, -35.0, 149.0, 149.5]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

Downloads and Links

Source Information

CO2CRC-GA Greenhouse Gas Controlled release Facility ANU CO2 sensing rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV)