A leak detection and location method and apparatus for detection of perforations in a obscure geomembrane liner is set forth. In a typical application, upper and lower liners are positioned contiguous to one another and a conducting liquid is placed between them. In the event a tear or perforation is formed in the lower liner, a current flow path is established from a power supply and conductors connected to the power supply. The current flow path extends through the liquid to the leak. Because of the liquid path through the liner, electric current will flow through the perforation and establish an associated magnetic field in the near vicinity of the leak. Magnetic sensors are then swept across the surface of or through the impounded liquid above the liners to indicate such magnetic field variations and the locations of such perturbations correspond to the locations of the leak perforations.
Merle E. Converse; Thomas E. Owen