NON-CLAMPING METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF DEAD UNDERGROUND POWER UTILITY CABLE FROM SPATIALLY ADJACENT POWER UTILITY CABLES

The present disclosure relates to non-clamping method and apparatus for identification of dead underground power utility cable. The method comprises: forming a complete circuit by connecting a transmitter to two of a plurality of conductors of a target dead power cable at a first end thereof; short-circuiting and grounding the plurality of conductors at a second end of the dead power cable; injecting an audio frequency current signal from the transmitter into the complete circuit; within a pit which at least partially exposes a plurality of underground power cables: detecting a first audio frequency magnetic flux signal on a surface of a random first one of the underground power cables; detecting a second plurality of audio frequency magnetic flux signal on respective surfaces of some of the underground power cables being spatially-adjacent to the first one of the underground power cables; identifying the first one of the underground power cables as the target dead power cable if a peak amplitude of the first audio frequency magnetic flux signal as displayed on a display device exceeds any peak amplitude of the second plurality of audio frequency magnetic flux signals as displayed on the display device by more than about 50%.