Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech Digital Commons Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School Winter 2007 Position and orientation correction for pipe profiling robots Andrew John Dettmer Louisiana Tech University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.latech.edu/dissertations Part of the Civil Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Dettmer, Andrew John, "" (2007). Dissertation. 547. https://digitalcommons.latech.edu/dissertations/547 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Louisiana Tech Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Louisiana Tech Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. POSITION AND ORIENTATION CORRECTION FOR PIPE PROFILING ROBOTS by Andrew John Dettmer, B.S. A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY March 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3264694 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3264694 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LOUISIANA TECH UNIVERSITY THE GRADUATE SCHOOL P//33 /lO O l Date We hereby recommend that the dissertation prepared under our supervision by Andrew John Dettmer__________________________________________________________ entitled Position and Orientation Correction for Pipe Profiling Robots _____________________________ be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy_______________________________________________________________________ lion Research Head of Department Department Recommendation concurred in: /V - / ) / Advisoiy Committee Appi Approved: Director of Graduate Studies ean of the Graduate School CD ^ a (u Dean of the College GS Form 13 (5/03) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Sewer pipelines are prevalent, important, valuable, unnoticed, and often in a state of disrepair. Pipeline inspection is essential for effective management of wastewater systems and is now mandated for many municipalities complying with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board Statement 34 and EPA regulations. Pipe inspection robots are routinely used to inspect underground pipelines for cracks, deformations, leaks, blockages and other anomalies to prevent catastrophic failure and to ensure cost effective maintenance and renewal. Most existing pipe inspection robots only collect video footage of pipe condition. Pipe profiling technology has recently been introduced to allow for measurement of the internal coordinate geometry of pipelines. Accurate radial measurements permit the calculation of several important pipe parameters which aid in the determination of pipe condition and prediction of time to failure. Significant research work has been completed in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia aimed at improving the accuracy and automation of the pipe inspection process. However, standard calibration, verification, reporting and analysis practices must be developed for pipe profilers if coordinate profiling data is to be effectively included in the long term management of pipeline assets. The objective of this research is to quantify the measurement error incurred by a pipe profiler’s misalignment with the pipe axis, present a new methodology to correct the measurement error, develop a prototype profiler to verify the equations derived herein, iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and to further the development of pipe profiler technology at the Trenchless Technology Center at Louisiana Tech University. Equations are derived for pipe ovality as a function of the robot’s position and orientation with respect to a pipe to demonstrate the magnitude of the error which is introduced by a robot’s misalignment with the pipe axis. A new technique is presented to estimate the position and orientation of a profiler using radial measurement devices at each of its ends. This technique is demonstrated by applying homogeneous coordinate transformations to simulated radial measurements based on mathematically generated data that would be obtained by incrementally rotating two parallel radial measuring devices in a perfectly cylindrical pipe. A prototype pipe profiling robot was developed to demonstrate the new position and orientation technique and to experimentally verify the measurement error caused by a robot’s misalignment with the pipe axis. This work improves the accuracy and automation of pipe profiling technology and makes a case for the development of industry standard calibration, verification, reporting and analysis practices. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPROVAL FOR SCHOLARLY DISSEMINATION The author grants to the Prescott Memorial Library of Louisiana Tech University the right to reproduce, by appropriate methods, upon request, any or all portions of this Dissertation. It is understood that “proper request” consists of the agreement, on the part of the requesting party, that said reproduction is for his personal use and that subsequent reproduction will not occur without written approval of the author of this Dissertation. Further, any portions of the Dissertation used in books, papers, and other works must be appropriately referenced to this Dissertation. Finally, the author of this Dissertation reserves the right to publish freely, in the literature, at any time, any or all portions of this Dissertation. Author Date 5 l/ s .o/ a o o-7 GS Form 14 (5/03) Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................iii LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................xi LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...............................................................................................xix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background and Research Need ............................................................................... 1 1.2 Objective and Scope ................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................. 9 2.1 The Need for Accurate Determination of Pipeline Condition ................................10 2.1.1 Effective Management of Pipeline Assets ....................................................... 13 2.1.2 Regulatory Directives for Pipe Inspection ....................................................... 15 2.1.3 The Influence of Pipe Ovality in CIPP Liner Design .......................................18 2.2 Pipe Inspection Methods and Research .................................................................. 19 2.2.1 History of Sewer Pipe Inspection .................................................................... 19 2.2.2 Commercialized Pipe Profilers ........................................................................ 22 2.2.3 Pipe Profiling Research .................................................................................... 27 2.3 Mathematical Principles and Techniques ............................................................... 34 2.3.1 Centroid Location from Pipe Profiles .............................................................. 34 2.3.2 Homogeneous Coordinate Transformation Matrices ....................................... 37 2.3.3 The atan2 Function .......................................................................................... 40 vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2.3.4 Quadrature Logic .............................................................................................41 2.3.5 Laser Peak Finding Algorithm ......................................................................... 42 2.4 Conclusions ...........................................................................................................43 CHAPTER 3 QUANTIFYING THE ERROR PRODUCED BY MISALIGNED PIPE PROFILERS............................................................................................................45